


A Tangle of Brambles

by LunaRowena



Series: Brambles [2]
Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Caed Nua, Canon Dialogue, Canon-Typical Violence, Family, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Strong Language, orlans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2019-07-03 11:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15818190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaRowena/pseuds/LunaRowena
Summary: Hazel Bramble just wanted to find land in the Dyrwood so she and her four siblings could settle down, but life is never straightforward when you're an orlan Watcher.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For Pillars Prompts Weekly #0019: Family
> 
> So yesterday I had an urge to just go create a full orlan party, and now my brain won't let me write about anything else until I write about them.

_  
Dear Hazel,_

_I hope this letter finds you. I don’t know what company you’re with these days so I’m just mailing it home. Hopefully Hollis doesn’t open it before you._

_You know what we were talking about before I left, the possibility of settling down somewhere? There’s a Lord around here that’s giving out cheap land. Real cheap land, Haze. Now I admit that the weather fucking sucks here and it’s not friendly towards orlans (where is), but this is a chance to start over. To get Hollis out of the Deadfire before the Príncipi take him to be a shipfinder. To get Hyacinth to a continent with actual academies. Honeysuckle some land to roam on. And you, you can settle down and stop fighting other people’s battles for a living._

_As for me, there’s a Temple of Wael in Defiance Bay (the only notable city here) that I’ve been hanging around at. Write me when you get here and I’ll come visit. Give my love to everyone._

_Love,_  
_Heather_  
  
Hazel Bramble sat in the crumbling hall of Caed Nua reading the crumpled letter for what felt like the hundredth time. Well, she had acquired cheap land, all right. Just at the cost of the previous owner’s sanity and life. She sighed as she looked around at the decrepit stonework. _Bit of a fixer upper_ , Hyacinth would say. Understatement of the century. Still, she had come to the Dyrwood looking for someplace to settle and a castle was a step up from a farm. She didn’t know anything about farming anyway. And the keep, when it was repaired, was definitely large enough to house the five Bramble siblings.

_I can have my own room_ , Hazel thought dreamily. _We can all have our own rooms. We can all have_ multiple _rooms_. She currently shared her bedroom in their two bedroom home in the Deadfire with Hollis now that Heather was gone, although she spent most time away from home with her mercenary work. Working for whoever would take an orlan fighter seriously.

That had been the way it was for, what, almost a dozen years? Her off fighting, sending the money home to her four younger siblings while Heather took care of the young ones. She and Heather had a drag-out fight two years ago when Heather had decided to join the priesthood of Wael and go off wandering.

“You’re just going to leave them?” Hazel had demanded.

Heather threw up her hands. “They’re not babies forever, Haze. Honeysuckle is as old as you were when mom died. If they need watching, Hollis is old enough to watch them. He’s older than I was when you left me with the kids.”

“I didn’t leave you with the kids!”

“Yes you did! You swanned off to join the Blaze Brigade and left me at home!”

“We needed money, Heather! It was a better option than getting further involved in the gangs. It got us off the streets!”

“I know!” Heather huffed. “I’m not blaming you. But they’re– _we’re_ –not kids anymore. You got your chance to run off, Hazel. This is mine.”

“I would prefer it if we could just,” Hazel sighed, “settle down somewhere. Away from all of this. The Deadfire’s not a good place for orlans.”

“Where is a good place for orlans unless you want to go tribal?” Heather sat down next to Hazel and squeezed her hand. “I’ll keep a lookout for someplace.”

Hazel squeezed Heather’s hand back. “Just don’t disappear on me forever, okay?”

“Hey, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

Despite that promise, Hazel hadn’t heard from Heather until this letter. Still, she had followed her sister’s assertions out to the Dyrwood and it had, from a certain point of view, panned out. She tried to smooth out the paper again, but it was beyond smoothing.

There was the small matter of her possibly losing her sanity, but that was a _then_ problem. Hazel looked around the hall, her ears twitching from the small cross breeze. This was a _now_ problem. Pulling parchment, pen, and ink out of her satchel, she began to compose a letter on the stone steps.  
_  
Dear Heather,_

_I made it to the Dyrwood with some misadventures. I’d rather tell you about them in person. Meet me at Caed Nua, northeast of Defiance Bay. It’s ours now. I’ll be sending for the others shortly._

_Love,_  
_Hazel_  


 

Three days later, Hazel stood outside on the grounds, directing the workmen. “Now that we have the Eastern Barbican shored up, I think we should start on the villa so we have some place to sleep.”

The foreman looked to Edér for confirmation, but he just shrugged.

“Hey, she’s the boss. I’m just along for the ride.”

Hazel’s left ear twisted in annoyance as the men walked off. “He’s been doing that all day.”

“What?” asked Edér.

“Checking with you for confirmation for everything I say.” She sighed. “I can’t even get taken seriously in my own castle.”

“You should try being a ‘wild’ orlan,” said a voice from behind. “That’s when they get out the pitchforks. And ‘castle’ is an overstatement.” The new orlan wrinkled her nose and tugged on the ends of her copper braids. “Have you considered burning it down and rebuilding, Haze? It looks haunted.”

Turning around, Hazel grinned. “It is haunted. Well, was. I think we took care of all of the shadows. Also, don’t go in the basement unarmed.” She walked forward and hugged her sister. “It’s good to see you, Heather.”

Heather squeezed her back. “Good to see you, too. Your hair’s longer,” she twisted a finger around one of the loose, coppery strands.

“It’s up, how can you tell?”

“Because it’s long enough to put up.” Heather pulled back from the embrace and narrowed her eyes at Edér, who was staring at her with a goofy grin on his face. “Can I help you?”

“It’s just, you’re so,” he waved his hands in the air vaguely, “fluffy!”

Hazel sighed inwardly. Edér, while generally well meaning, was not the most racially sensitive individual she’d ever met, and Heather was sensitive about being a more furry, ‘wild’ orlan. For good reason, as the more furry orlans received the even shorter end of the stick.

Heather stared at him, incredulous, before turning to Hazel. “Where did you pick this guy up?” The fur on her neck poofed out as her hackles stood on end. 

“He was smoking in front of a tree full of corpses.”

“Smoking what, exactly?”

Hazel laughed. “I didn’t ask. Heather, this is Edér Teylecg formally of Gilded Vale. He’s not going to run you out of town with a pitchfork. Edér, this is my sister, Heather. Her bite is, in fact, as bad as her bark, so I don’t care how fluffy she is. Aloth’s around here, somewhere. Now shake hands and play nice.”

Heather rolled her eyes and extended her hand at orlan height. “How do you do?” she asked, with an over-the-top formal accent.

Edér had to bend down to clasp her hand. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.” He whispered to Hazel on the side, “Does this mean she’s not going to let me pet her ears?”

“I heard that!” Heather promptly withdrew her hand. “I may not be a lady, but I’m no doxy.”

Hazel winced. “That’s, uh, a bit intimate, Edér.”

“How would you like it if someone just grabbed your ears?” snapped Heather.

“Uh,” Edér pondered. “I don’t rightly know. It would be a bit strange.”

“Exactly!” Heather linked her arm with Hazel’s. “Now show me around, and tell me everything about how you wound up with a haunted castle.”

Hazel walked arm and arm with her sister. “Well, we came here to meet with the previous owner except he had gone insane so we had to kill him and then his steward, who is a sentient chair, declared me the new owner. Also, I’m a Watcher now.”

“Tell me everything _in greater detail_.”


	2. Strays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the Bramble family make it to Caed Nua.

“…and then we found Maerwald locked in a room by himself and he was… he had lost his mind, Heather.” Hazel sat with her feet drawn up on the edge of the fountain next to the villa, the contractors working in the background. Her hand trailed listlessly in what should be water but was just air in the cracked basin. Heather sat cross-legged next to her, listening intently. The old, black hound lay on the ground below. Hazel looked up. “And he said–” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “He said the same thing was going to happen to me.”

“Hey, you said it yourself. He was a madman,” said Heather. She raised one hand. “What makes you think the same will happen to you? Starting to get an urge to lock yourself in the basement and attack intruders?”

“No, but,” Hazel hesitated, “I’ve been having dreams. I think. Or not sleeping. It feels like I’m not sleeping but I’m having such disruptive dreams that I can’t… I can’t quite remember and Edér’s had to violently shake me awake.” She traced designs in the air of the fountain. “It has to do with being Awakened? Or a Watcher? Or both? It’s not quite clear. We’re supposed to look for more answers in Defiance Bay.”

Heather smiled. “Well luckily, you’ll have a guide.”

“I want to wait until the others get here, though,” said Hazel. A slight breeze tickled her loose strands of hair across her face. She stared down at the fountain, tracing the long cracks in the stonework, cracking like her mind. “I hope it can wait that long.”

“Hey, Haze, if anyone can beat this thing it’s you.”

Hazel grasped at the air in frustration. “This isn’t something I can hit with a sword, though.”

“Yeah, but you never go down without a fight. Okay, but,” Heather leaned in, “for real, what is that guy doing here?”

Hazel’s brow furrowed and she looked up, drawn out of her contemplations. “Edér? He doesn’t… really have anywhere else to go.”

Heather groaned and rolled her eyes. “I should have known it when I saw the dog. You’re picking up strays again.”

“No,” Hazel held up one finger in protest, “it’s not like that.” But her words didn’t have quite the full force she would have liked. Was it like that?

“Yes it is,” Heather sighed and threw her head back, her braids swinging. “You do this all the fucking time.”

“Hey,” Hazel twitched her ears defensively. “I still maintain that adopting Honeysuckle was the right thing to do.”

“Not that. You know I would kill for Honeysuckle.” Heather grimaced and cocked her head to the side. “But the lion? Did you need to bring home the lion?”

She was never going to live this down. “Her mom was dead. And Bumblebee and Honeysuckle love each other.”

Heather just shook her head. “I’m not sure if your gaggle of men is better or worse than the lion.”

Hazel starting ticking off her fingers. “Look, Edér was going to get hanged if he stuck around that town much longer. Okay, Aloth didn’t really have anywhere else to go. But Kana’s here because he’s interested in our murder basement. There was this priest guy that wanted to follow me around and insult me, but I turned him down.”

“Oh good, you do have some bloody sense of discernment.” Heather held up a finger, “and murder basement?”

Hazel scratched her ear, how should she break this? “Yeah… that’s going to be our project while the workmen do the restoration up top. Cleaning out the murder basement. Or at least parts of it. I think there’s like fifteen levels? We’ve only cleared out one.”

Heather looked less than thrilled. “And this Kana guy is excited about this?”

Hazel shrugged. “He thinks there’s some ancient artifact from Rauatai down there.”

Heather’s eyebrows raised. “Why would that be in your basement in the Dyrwood?”

“That’s what I asked but he’s so… earnest. Oh, and, uh,” Hazel smiled sheepishly. “We might also have to go… take care of the nearby Lord of Gilded Vale.”

Heather sighed. “And here I was thinking you were turning into a homebody.”

“Look,” Hazel swung her legs around, planting them firmly on the ground. The old, black hound thumped its tail. “You can’t just go around murdering your citizens for things out of their control.”

“Hazel,” Heather shook her head and took her sister’s hand. “If you didn’t get involved, you wouldn’t be you.”

 

It was some weeks later and Hazel wasn’t sure Heather was ever going to quite forgive Edér for wanting to pet her ears. She had warmed up slightly, but she always seemed to wait until the last second to heal him.

Hazel lifted her shield to block the incoming xaurip spear. Taking advantage of the opening, she swung her axe into the ribs of the xaurip skirmisher. It connected with a satisfying thunk and the xaurip went down.

“I could use a little help over here.” Edér was fending off three xaurips at once and looking worse for wear.

Hazel sprinted over, swinging her axe as she went to brain a xaurip, but not before it got a good hit in on Edér who wasn’t able to bring his shield around in time. “Heather?” Hazel called.  
“I’m on it, I’m on it.” Heather waved her arms in the air and chanted, forming an iconic projection that slowly rolled across the melee fighters and the xaurips, who shuddered.

A blast from Aloth’s wand brought the last two down and Hazel bent over to catch her breath.

“Ma’am?” a small voice called out from near the stairs. Hazel backtracked around the corners to find a young boy holding a lantern and shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Uh, sorry, My Lady?”

Hazel became self conscious of the blood spatter covering her and tried to wipe off her axe. “Yes, what is it?” she asked as she hoisted her shield onto her back.

“Um,” the boy’s eyes darted nervously along the dark passageways. “There’s some orlans’ve showed up, ma’am. My Lady. And a lion.”

Hazel’s ears perked up. “That’ll be them! Oh, finally, Heather, they’re here,” she called back. “Have them set up in Brighthollow,” she instructed the boy.

“Already underway, ma’am, since we figured they were telling the truth about being related to you, being orlans and all. Brelden’s setting them up. It, uh, took me a while to get down here.”

“That’s true; it’ll take us a bit to get back up.” Hazel pulled on her ear. “You can go on and head back,” she told the boy as the others rounded the corner into view.

The boy looked back up the stairs and winced. “If it’s alright with you, I’d rather travel with you?”

Hazel had to reach up to clap him on the shoulder. “It’s pretty nasty down here, don’t blame you.”

“They’re here?” asked Heather as she walked up. “Finally, thank Wael. I’ve had enough of the murder basement.”

“Technically, these are the ‘Endless Paths of Od Nua,’” interjected Kana, readjusting his cap to its jaunty angle.

Heather rolled her eyes. “It was the murder basement first; it will always be the murder basement.”

“This mean we finally get to meet the rest of your family?” asked Edér with a smile as he hefted the Larder Door onto his back.

Hazel wasn’t sure if his hopeful tone was actual enthusiasm to meet her family, or enthusiasm for more fluffy things. “We should probably clean up first,” she said as she picked some caked blood out of her fur.

“I could kill for a bath right now,” sighed Heather.

“You’ve been in the back,” said Edér as he wiped some blood from his own face.

“We’ve still been camping under the fucking ground. Trees, I can handle. But not being able to see the sky? Bloody unnatural.”

Aloth picked at the fraying embroidery on his gloves as he looked between his companions. “Perhaps our time would be better spent moving than bickering?”

“Yes. The sooner we get back, the sooner we can wash up and the sooner we can see everyone,” said Hazel.

As they walked back up the Endless Paths, Edér sidled up next to Hazel. He leaned in, then apparently realizing she was still significantly far down settled for softly asking, “So, uh, is the rest of your family like Heather?”

Hazel inwardly sighed. So it was about the fluff. “Hyacinth is also a ‘wild’ orlan, but Hollis and Honeysuckle as ‘hearth’ orlans like me.”

“I meant more…” he gave a quick glance back at Heather to make sure she wasn’t listening. “Personality wise.”

Hazel’s ears twitched in amusement. “Heather has the… strongest personality of all of us.”

“That’s, uh, good then.” He nodded awkwardly.

The young boy, who had been walking beside Hazel and following their transaction, held his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

 

As much as Hazel was looking forward to cleaning up, as soon as they emerged from the trap door next to the chapel into the cool evening air, something yellow came flying through the air and glomped her. She staggered back from the weight, almost crashing into the messenger boy.

“Hazel!” Honeysuckle squeezed her before pulling back and looking up at her. “You need a bath,” her nose wrinkled.

Hazel snorted and patted her youngest sister on the shoulder. “It’s good to see you, too, Honey. I’ll give you a real hug when I’m… cleaner.”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve missed you!” Honeysuckle nodded her head, her long, blonde ponytail bouncing. “This is a neat castle here. Is it really ours?” Her eyes shone with excitement as she bounced on her heels. “How did you get it? Bumblebee and I have been exploring,” she nodded toward the lioness lounging on the lawn. “There’s a lot of fun stuff to climb on. Are you going to clean it up? I know you’ve already cleaned up that house place. Hyacinth’s cooking. She kicked me out.”

“Were you trying to taste everything as she was making it again?” asked Heather as she climbed out the hatch. The rest of the group was filing out around the sisters.

“Heather!” Honeysuckle flew to Heather, almost bowling through Aloth. She buried her face in Heather’s shoulder, standing on her tiptoes. “You didn’t write,” she accused, her words muffled.

Heather patted Honeysuckle on the back. “Not much interesting to say, kid. ‘Today it rained.’ ‘Today it rained again.’ ‘Today I got run out of town when I tried to buy paper to tell you it rained.’”

“I was worried,” Honeysuckle said, her voice small.

Heather hugged her tightly. “I’m too full of spite to die, Hon.”

Honeysuckle pulled back. “I don’t think it works that way–” she caught sight of Edér, who was staring at Bumblebee. “Why do you have a door?”

He chuckled and patted it. “Pretty sturdy at blocking hits. Good, old Dyrwoodan workmanship.”

There was a pause as Honeysuckle stared up at him. “The Dyrwood is weird. You have weird plants, too. I’ve only seen trees like these in Hyacinth’s books. I like them. They’re really tall.” She cocked her head. “You’re pretty tall, too.”

“He’s taller,” Edér jerked his head at Kana.

“Yeah, but he’s an aumaua. He’s supposed to be tall.” Honeysuckle cocked her head to the side, studying him and his longing looks toward Bumblebee. “Do you want to meet my lion?”

Edér brightened. “We’re gonna be good friends, you and me.”

 

Honeysuckle chattered their ears off as they walked toward Brighthollow. Light streamed softly out the windows as they approached, shadows moving inside the kitchen. Hazel’s ears strained forward, trying to catch any sound of her other two siblings. Her heart quickened as they reached the doorway. Why was she nervous? They were all family. She reached up and pushed open the door.

Inside, she could hear singing in the kitchen off to the left. Her breath caught in her throat. It had been too long since she had heard Hyacinth singing. She stood quietly in the doorway, not wanting to break the scene.

Honeysuckle had no such compunctions. “Hyacinth, I found them!” she pushed past Hazel.

The singing stopped and a rumpled wild orlan poked her head out of the kitchen doorway brandishing a wooden spoon, her voluminous copper tresses barely contained by a headband and hair combs. Her face broke out into a smile, but was quickly replaced with a look of concern. “Hazel! Are you alright?”

Hazel attempted to rub some of the blood off her armor, but mostly succeeded in smearing it further. “Yes, I’m alright. It’s not mine. Well, mostly not. Sorry, I’m blocking the doorway,” she said and stepped farther inside.

Hyacinth still looked worried. “What have you been–” her eyes widened as Heather stepped through the doorway. “Heather!” Her eyes widened further as Edér, Aloth, and Kana filed in. “And these… fine gentlemen.” She looked back over her shoulder. “We should… we should have enough food. I can make this work. Just give me two shakes.” She tapped the spoon.

“Thanks, Hy. We need to all wash up, anyway,” said Hazel. “We can do full introductions when we’re all at dinner in one place. How’s the place so far?”

Hyacinth grinned. “It’s a bit of a fixer upper, isn’t it?”

Hazel snorted.

“Brighthollow is nice,” Hyacinth continued. “This kitchen is nicer than the one we had back in Neketaka, but whoever built this house built it for show, not practicality.” She brandished the spoon. “Why would you put the dining room across the house from the kitchen?”

“Because you’re a fancy, rich person that doesn’t give a fuck?” said Heather.

Hyacinth still eyed Heather warily. “I guess so.”

“Is Hollis around?” asked Hazel to draw Hyacinth’s attention back to her.

“Oh, yes, I sent him to set the table. It seems we’ll need more place settings,” Hyacinth gave another curious glance up at the three men. “Honey, please go rearrange the table while everyone get cleaned up.”

“Okay.” Honeysuckle’s ears drooped at being pulled away from the group and her new friends.

“And keep Bumblebee down from the table.”

Honeysuckle stuck her nose in the air. “Bumblebee has perfect table manners.”

 

Soon, everyone was cleaned up sufficiently and sat around the dinner table. Introductions were made and everyone dug in. Hazel and Honeysuckle did most of the talking, Honeysuckle chattering about the journey over from the Deadfire with occasional comments from Hyacinth, Hazel filling her siblings in on everything that had happened since she had arrived in the Dyrwood. Aside from the initial hellos, Hollis remained silent.

“Look, Haze,” said Heather, “I don’t know what that Maerwald guy was talking about, but Defiance Bay is the biggest and most civilized place around here, so if there’s anyone in this country that can help you, they’d be there. Can you pass the peas, Hol?”

He wore a cool expression Hazel couldn’t read as he passed the bowl of peas across the table. “Does this mean you’ll be around now, Heather, or are you going to waltz out without a word again?”

Heather’s ears flattened. “I didn’t leave without a word, Hol, and you know it.”

He maintained his cool expression as he gestured his fork carelessly. “You didn’t feel a need to provide any word for the past two years until you decided to move us out to this god-forsaken middle of nowhere.”

“I’m from here, and that’s not exactly wrong,” said Edér, with a grin like he was trying to defuse the situation.

“He’s just grumpy because he had to leave his girlfriend behind,” Honeysuckle cut in.

Hollis banged his fork down, his ears flattening. “Honey!”

Hazel’s ears lowered. She had been so focused on the positives of getting her siblings out of the Deadfire that she hadn’t spent much time considering what in their lives they were leaving behind. “I’m sorry, Hollis.”

“What, who?” asked Heather.

“Millie Floss,” said Honeysuckle, talking with her mouth full.

“Millie Floss? Didn’t she run a front for the Whitelight gang? She’s bad news,” said Hazel.

Hollis fixed his gaze on Hazel. “If we’re critiquing love lives, Hazel, whatever happened to–”

“Dropping the subject, dropping the subject,” interrupted Hazel. She turned back to her plate. She had to reach a bit too far to get another roll. Maybe she should special order an orlan sized table, although imagining Kana at a table sized for orlans was something else. When they had more money.

“I think Hollis has a thing for bad girls,” said Honeysuckle in the middle of another bite.

“Hon, don’t talk with your mouth full,” said Heather.

Hollis stared down Heather again. “Are we really supposed to go back to ‘normal’ again? After two years?”

“We have guests,” Hyacinth hissed, gesturing to Edér, Aloth, and Kana. Aloth was doing his best to appear as small as possible and failing, due to being one of the largest people at the table.

“Look, we’re all a long way from what was home and we’re all tired,” said Hazel. “No, this isn’t normal but we need to find a new normal. We’re going to finish eating dinner tonight as a family. You two need to work out whatever it is you need to work out by yourselves.”

“There’s nothing to work out!” protested Heather.

Hazel looked sternly at her sister. “Heather.”

After a moment, Heather dropped her gaze and settled for shoving a forkful of food into her mouth.

The table sat in tense silence.

“So, Kana,” said Hazel. “Why don’t you tell us more about the _Tanvii ora Toha_?”

Hyacinth looked up. “The Book of Virtues?”

“Ah, so you’ve heard something of our culture,” said Kana, beaming.

“I’ve read a little,” said Hyacinth. “Is it your area of study?”

Kana enthusiastically detailed his theories about his people’s work while Hyacinth asked questions. Slowly Hazel began to relax as the tension at the table started to disperse. Heather and Hollis still wouldn’t look at each other, but whatever they needed to fix wouldn’t be fixed tonight. It wasn’t quite how Hazel had imagined their first night in their new home as a family, but, she reflected as she took another bite, at least they were finally all back together.


	3. Waking Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watcher dreams make for some early mornings.

Hazel bounced up and down on the bed she shared with Heather. “Mom! Mom! Tell us a story?”

From the rocking chair in the corner, her mother sighed as she tried to rock baby Hyacinth to sleep. “You’re getting a bit old for bedtime stories, Hazel.”

Hazel flopped down to a cross-legged position. “But Hollis isn’t. We just happen to be in the same room.”

Heather pulled the covers up to her chin, her eyes shining. “Tell us how you met Dad again.”

“Story!” Hollis sat up in his bed. “Please?”

Their mother smiled, shaking her head. “I think you all can tell that story better than me by now.”

“I’ll tell it.” Hazel straightened up and cleared her throat. “Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, orlan girl who worked on a sugar plantation.”

“And she wasn’t happy,” interrupted Heather.

“And she wasn’t happy,” amended Hazel. “When she could, she would climb the tallest tree she could find and stare out at the ocean. One day, there was a big ship on the horizon flying a black flag and everyone was worried.”

“Because they were pirates!” said Heather, clutching the blankets.

“It was Dad,” said Hollis.

“Yes, they were pirates come to scold the plantation owner for his wicked ways,” said Hazel. “And Dad was with them. But the wicked plantation owner double crossed the pirates that had come to parley, and had them clapped in irons to be flogged. Including Dad,” she added before Heather or Hollis could interrupt. “But Mom saw them being lead to the barn, and from up in her tree she met eyes with a handsome, orlan man and it was love at first sight. Yes, it was Dad,” Hazel sighed. “She knew she had to help them. So in the dead of night, she snuck into the barn and picked the locks on the shackles, freeing the pirates. They all made sure the wicked plantation owner could never hurt anyone else again and escaped to their ship, Mom with them. They sailed away and had lots of adventures”

“And lived happily ever after,” said Heather as she snuggled down into the pillows.

“Good job, Hazel,” their mother smiled. Hyacinth had finally fallen asleep.

Hazel stood up on the bed again, and gestured dramatically as if she was wielding an invisible sword. “When I grow up, I’m going to have all sorts of adventures.”

“Me too,” Heather sat up. “I’m coming, too.”

Hazel smiled down at her sister. “Of course you are. We’ll be the famous Bramble sisters, slaying dragons and rescuing princesses.”

“And all the men will be madly in love with us,” said Heather.

“But we’ll turn them all down,” said Hazel.

“Because we can’t be tied down,” finished Heather, tossing her hair.

“And we’ll sail off into the sunset, looking for adventure in all corners of Eora.” Hazel plopped back down onto the bed.

“I’m sure you will,” said their mother, “but right now it’s time for all the adventurers to go to bed.”

Hazel climbed into bed and snuggled up next to Heather. “Mom? When is Dad coming back?”

“I don’t know, Hazel,” their mother sighed. “I don’t know.”

The scene faded out and small Hazel was left alone in a blackened landscape. “Mom?” She padded forward, hugging her blanket around her. “Mom!”

Nothing answered.

She plodded forward, unable to discern the line between land and sky except for the feel of the ground beneath her. She clutched at her own face to make sure she was still real in the blackness. Whispers danced around her head in a language she didn’t understand. Imploring. Sobbing. Screaming. She wanted to help them. No, she didn’t. She was the reason. She was the reason for the screaming–

The Queen That Was, and is, and will be. The Queen That Was, and is, and will be. The Queen That Was, and is, and will be.

Hazel pulled on her ears, trying to clear her head of thoughts that weren’t her own. Her sister, the heretic. It wasn’t true. He wouldn’t lie to her. To them all. It couldn’t be true.

They were coming. Hazel trembled along with the ground. Bursting forth out of the earth with a roar like thunder, the adra pillars shot up into the sky as she fell backward. The glowing, green adra hummed, drowning out the whispers, drowning out the sounds in her mind. She clutched her ears, the blanket falling from her shoulders. Colors whipped around her like wind. She shut her eyes but she still couldn’t escape them as the pillars loomed in her mind.

She was supposed to be asking something. She was supposed to be asking something– 

Hazel woke up shaking and gasping, the side of her pillow plastered to her face with sweat. She pushed up and forced herself to breath slowly in and out her nose as she raked her hair back from her face. The dreams were getting more frequent and she couldn’t even remember most of what was causing her such distress. She rubbed her eyes, yawning. She probably wasn’t getting any more sleep.

Swinging her legs out of bed, Hazel padded to the window and pulled back the curtain. A soft rain fell out on the grounds of Caed Nua from a dark grey sky. She judged that the sun was up behind the clouds and sighed. No excuse to not get up now.

The old, black hound thumped her tail from her spot on the floor at the foot of the bed while Hazel got dressed. Hazel scratched her behind the ears before softly opening the door and picking her way down the stairs. No one else seemed to be awake yet. The old hound followed behind her. She really should name her, Hazel considered as she walked into the kitchen. Naming things wasn’t really her forte, though. Maybe she should ask Honeysuckle.

She dug around in the cupboards after dragging over a chair, not really sure what she was looking for. Moving around some containers of flour and sugar, she came across a small bag of beans. Hazel’s ears perked up. No, it couldn’t be. She pulled off the note attached to it.  
 _  
Hazel,_

_I know Morrison’s is your favorite coffee and I don’t know if they have it in the Dyrwood, so I thought I’d bring some along._

_♥ Hyacinth_  
  
Gods bless Hyacinth. Hazel dug around in the kitchen to find the proper tools and started to work making herself the first cup of coffee she’d had in ages.

 

Hyacinth was right about the kitchen, Hazel thought as she sat cross-legged on the counter watching the rain out the window, cupping her mug of coffee in her hands. It was inconvenient that was across the house from the dining room, and no room in the kitchen for a table. The rain painted streaks as it lazily trailed down the windowpane. Hazel took a sip of coffee, savoring the bitter taste.

Footsteps fell near the door and Hazel turned to see Edér appear in the doorway. The old, black hound wagged her tail at his approach. He leaned up against the frame. “You look terrible.”

She snorted and ran her fingers back through her hair. “Maybe this is why you’re still single, Edér.”

He grinned. “Weren’t you supposed to not throw stones at other people’s love lives?” He looked at her, the laughter leaving his eyes. “The dreams again?”

“Yeah.” Hazel took another sip of coffee and gazed back out the window. “Woke up early, woke up bad. So I just got up. I should have Heather ask Wael what the Hel he’s doing. I hope someone’s having a laugh at this, at least. What are you doing up this early?”

“Haven’t been doing much of it recently, but I am a farmer,” said Edér. He walked up to the old hound and bent down to scratch her ears. “Got a lifetime of getting up with the sun.” The hound rolled over to display her belly. “Who’s a good girl? There any food around here?”

Hazel set her coffee down and slid off the counter. “There should be; I stocked up on provisions and it looks like Hyacinth brought even more food. I think I saw some eggs. And there’s coffee.”

He followed her over to fire. “What?”

Hazel looked up at him from where she was digging in the provisions. “It’s a type of drink made from beans. They grow them in the Deadfire. Probably some other places, but there are numerous coffee plantations out there. Does it not get imported into the Dyrwood?”

The look on his face told her probably not. “Gilded Vale didn’t get a lot of foreign foods.”

“You can try mine.” She reached up to grab her mug off the counter and handed it up to him.

Edér took the coffee mug, smelled it, then took a swig. He shook his head and handed it back to her.

Hazel broke out laughing at the look on his face. “It’s an acquired taste.”

Edér worked his mouth, trying to get rid of the taste. “Why would you want to acquire that?”

“Why would you want to acquire the taste for ale?”

“Because ale tastes good.”

She took a sip from her retrieved coffee mug. “And I think coffee tastes good. Of course, Hyacinth would tell you it’s not worth drinking without milk and two sugars. But Heather and I got used to drinking it black because we were poor kids trying to pretend to be adults. Hollis prefers tea in the morning and I tried to get some but I couldn’t remember what kind he likes...” she trailed off, staring hopelessly at the provisions in the kitchen. Judging by last night’s conversation she could have done a lot better by Hollis. “Some sister I am.”

“Hey,” Edér placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’re a good sister. You’re trying.”

Hazel sighed and set her coffee up on the counter. “Trying isn’t good enough. Now,” she put her hands on her hips. “We were making breakfast. How do omelettes sound?”

 

They were just finishing up when there was a soft knocking on the door frame. Hazel turned from where she was shoveling an omelette onto a plate to see Hollis standing in the doorway of the kitchen. “Are you alright? You look like you had a rough night.”

“So I’ve been told.” Hazel dug out a fork, placed it on the plate, and handed it toward Hollis. “Here, you can have mine. I’ll make another.”

He looked at her with an expression she couldn’t read. “I’m not going to take your breakfast, Hazel.”

“It’s fine.” She shoved the plate toward Hollis. “Everyone else should be getting up soon. We’ll just start making them en masse.”

He stared her down. “Which is why you should eat first.”

Edér looked up from his breakfast. “He’s got a point.”

“I’m just having some trouble sleeping. I didn’t suddenly turn into some delicate flower,” she snapped.

Hollis raised one eyebrow. “No one said that.”

Hazel sighed, her ears drooping. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to start this morning fighting. I actually wanted to apologize. I couldn’t remember what tea you like so I got a few different kinds…”

Hollis gave a small smile. “I like trying different teas. We also brought some. I see you found the coffee. Is there still hot water?”

“Oh. Yes, it’s in that pot.” Hazel looked down at the plated omelette and picked up the fork. She tried to eat the food while Hollis made his tea, but mostly wound up pushing it around the plate. “I also wanted to apologize for… all of this.”

Hollis blew steam off the top of his tea. “How do you mean?”

“I just…” she sighed. “I didn’t mean to forcibly tear you away from your life.”

He shook his head. “Hazel, if I was truly opposed to coming out here, I simply wouldn’t have come.” Hollis walked over to lean up against the counter next to her. “As it is, I fear I have not been discrete enough and have received some pressure due to my…” he glanced over at Edér. “…talents, making Neketaka somewhat unfriendly. That, and living halfway across Eora from the rest of my family is unappealing. That being said,” he looked out at the grounds and grimaced. “I can’t admit much fondness for Caed Nua. I am, however, interested in Defiance Bay and would like to see if there are any jobs I can apply for while we’re there.”

“While we’re there?” Hazel stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth. “I hadn’t thought you’d be coming.”

“Of course I’m coming.” He took a sip of tea, watching her reaction.

“I… I just thought you’d all want some time to settle in. You just got here and it’s not fair ask you to run off somewhere new. In fact, I was thinking about waiting a bit longer to leave so I’m not abandoning you–”

“Hazel, can you stop worrying about everyone else for just one minute and worry about yourself?” Hollis set his tea up on the counter and placed a hand on her arm. “ We come here and you look like death warmed over with some crazy story about the state of your soul. You don’t always have to do everything. Whatever you’ve gotten mixed up in, I can help. You know I can help.”

Hazel looked him over, then sighed. “Just as long as you work out your problem with Heather before we leave, because I’m not having you two giving each other the silent treatment the entire time.”

“What about Heather?” came Heather’s voice from the doorway. “By the gods, is that coffee?”

Hollis tensed.

“I’m, uh, gonna take the dog out.” said Edér, placing his plate on the counter.

“It’s raining,” said Heather.

“Dogs like water,” said Edér as he roused the hound from her spot beside the fire.

“I like walking in the rain,” said Hazel. “It’s cleansing. It feels like everything’s been washed away.”

“You want to come, too, then?” asked Edér.

Hazel looked back at Hollis, who gave a barely perceivable nod. “Sure.” She swigged down the rest of her coffee. “Beans are over there,” she pointed for Heather and followed Edér out the kitchen. They would be alright, she told herself. They had to be alright. Truth be told, there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Grabbing a cloak from beside the front door, she stepped out of Brighthollow into the rain.


	4. Early Morning Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes all you can do is wait in the rain.

Hazel turned her face up to the rain as she and Edér walked through the grounds of Caed Nua, the old, black hound trailing at their heels. It was more of a drizzle, a misty rain that made her feel like she was walking in a cloud. Nothing like the downpours of the Deadfire where sheets of water would fall from the sky. She blinked away droplets of water from her eyelashes.

They strolled past buildings in various states of repair before coming out to the forum. The contractors had left assorted pieces of lumber pilled in a corner at the bottom. Edér picked up a small strip, weighed it thoughtfully, then chucked it across the forum. The old hound bounded after it with her tongue hanging out. Hazel settled onto a bench a few rows up and watched the game of fetch.

After a few rounds, Edér broke the silence. “They’ll be alright.”

“Hmm?” Hazel propped her chin up in her palm, resting her elbow on her knee.

“Heather and Hollis. They’ll be alright.” The hound brought the stick back again and dropped it at Edér’s feet, tail wagging. He picked it up and tossed and she was off again. “Least the way it was with me and Woden, the harder we fought meant the more we cared.”

Hazel snorted. “The only time Heather and Hollis haven’t been fighting in one way or another is before Hollis could talk. Heather and Hollis…” she stared off into the distance after the loping hound. “Hollis and I don’t always see eye to eye. Honeysuckle and Hyacinth bicker endlessly, but it’s good natured. Honeysuckle teases Hollis mercilessly. Heather exasperates Hyacinth but they share tawdry romance novels back and forth that they think I don’t know about. Or at least they did. Before Heather left.” Which was the root of the whole problem, she thought gloomily.

Edér chuckled and sat down on the bottom row of the forum. “I thought my brother and I drove our parents mad. It must have been rough on your parents, raising five kids.”

“Four.” Hazel watched the hound trot back across the forum towards them with her stick. “We didn’t adopt Honeysuckle until after Dad and Mom died.”

Edér looked up at her. “I’m sorry.”

Hazel shrugged, not meeting Edér’s eyes. “It was a long time ago. Fifteen years. Longer for Dad.”

“My brother’s been gone fifteen years and I still miss him.” The hound arrived back at Edér’s feet with her stick, panting heavily. She dropped it at his feet and plopped to the ground.

Hazel stared out at the grounds as the rain fell around them, pattering on the wood of the forum benches. “Dad was a pirate with the Príncipi sen Patrena. Mom was a former slave turned mother of four turned cleaning lady. After Dad’s ship went down, she moved us from Dunnage out to Neketaka. Wanted to keep the Príncipi away from Hollis. Got a job cleaning at the temple of Wael. Then she got sick. After she died it was… bad for some time. When I was sixteen I joined up as a mercenary with the Blaze Brigade. Heather looked after the kids. Then eventually took over Mom’s old job. Then joined the priesthood. Then left.”

Edér scratched the head of the old, black hound, letting her talk.

“I know Hollis has a right to be angry, I just… I just want us to be able to start over with the past behind us.”

“Funny thing about the past,” Edér said. “It has a way of not staying where it oughta.”

 

The rain pitter-pattered on the window. Hyacinth yawned and stretched then snuggled back into her pillow. It was so quiet. All she could hear was the sound of her own breathing and the rain outside. Why was it so quiet? She blinked sleepily. She was in a room by herself. She had a room to herself! No Honeysuckle and Bumblebee to wake her up in the morning. Her eyes snapped open. No Honeysuckle to wake her up in the morning, how long had she slept? Yawning, she dragged herself out of bed and threw on a robe and slippers. How to feed this many people? Eggs, eggs of some kind, she told herself as she descended the stairs and headed toward the kitchen.

Hyacinth’s ears twitched at the sound of voices in the kitchen as she approached. Less than happy voices. Her right ear strained towards the doorway. Heather and Hollis’s voices. She veered her course into the room across the hall. However late it was, it was too early to butt in on that.

It was a strange room, this room. Part dining room, part study, with some kind of lab built into another room in the middle. A study that could definitely do with more books, she had thought last night. Well, it was probably lucky there was room because she definitely hadn’t unpacked all her books yet.

There was a large book open on the desk that Hyacinth didn’t recognize. However, those symbols… Her ears perked up as she approached. Those were definitely arcane symbols. This was a grimoire! It must be, oh what was his name, Aloth’s. She stepped tentatively toward the open grimoire. He probably wouldn’t mind if she took a peak, would he? She should probably ask but he didn’t seem to be awake yet. There was no harm in looking, was there? And maybe taking a few notes? And copying down some spells she didn’t know? Hyacinth turned and raced up the stairs to grab her own grimoire.

 

Heather gulped her coffee as fast as she could without burning her tongue. “It’s been two years since I’ve had coffee. Do you know how long that is to go without any fucking caffeine? Of course you get used to it, eventually, once the headaches go away. They have some fancy ass coffee houses in Defiance Bay but I’m not enough of a nob to get in. I actually saved up my money once but I couldn’t handle the glaring.”

Hollis leaned up against the counter watching her like she was some sort of predator, his ears pressed back.

Heather rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to bite you, Hol.”

“That’s not–” Hollis pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s not me I’m worried about you hurting, Heather.”

Heather slammed her empty mug up on the counter. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Hollis’s voice was measured and cold. “You walked out on this family. For two years, Heather. Without a word.”

Heather turned away from him over to the cooking fire. “Nothing to write home about. Did I see them eating eggs? Is there any cheese?”

“I had to try to explain to a thirteen year old that it wasn’t her fault that you left. Am I going to have to explain that again?”

She dug through the provisions, mostly going through the motions, not sure what she was searching for. Just avoiding Hollis’s demanding eyes. There, over there was the already used cooking pan. “You all didn’t need me.”

“That’s not the point–”

Heather still kept her back turned as she picked up the pan and spun it in her hands, feeling the weight. “I was eleven when Mom died; Hazel was thirteen. You were all old enough to–”

“They don’t remember Mom! I barely remember Mom! And Honeysuckle never had anyone but–”

Heather slammed the pan down and spun around to face him. “What do you want me to say, Hollis? That I’m a terrible sister? That I’m selfish? That I was jealous of Hazel? That I was sick of playing ‘mom’ since the age of fourteen? That I didn’t write because I needed space trying to ‘find myself?’ That I was too proud to come home when it turns out that ‘adventuring’ is mostly being tired and lonely and having people spit at you? I could lie, but it’s all true. And if that makes me a terrible person, then I’m a fucking awful person.”

“I thought you were dead!” Hollis’s composure broke and for a split second Heather could see the pain in his eyes. She flashed back to the sad, scared seven year old, but just as suddenly it was gone and it was just the man glaring.

Out in the hallway, footsteps pounded as someone raced up the stairs. Hollis stuck his head out the door. “And now we’ve scared away Hyacinth.”

“Fucking Hel,” Heather gritted her teeth. “She didn’t need to hear that.”

Hollis glared back at her. “And I did?”

“There’s no point in not being honest with you, Hol. Even if it is against my religion.”

“Because you think I’m going to–”

“Because you know me too well.” Heather tried to smile, but it was too forced. “Because you’re not under any illusions about what a selfish bitch I am.”

“Do I smell coffee?” said a deep voice that was entirely too jolly. Kana ducked through the doorway into the kitchen.

Heather looked at the small bag of coffee beans. Her ear twitched in annoyance. There wasn’t that much to begin with. Maybe a few more days worth. But it was a gift from Hyacinth and Hyacinth valued taking care of guests. She sighed. “Beans are there. Help yourself. We were making… what were we making?”

“Omelettes,” said Hollis.

Heather clapped her hands together. “Omelettes! I can handle that.”

Hollis stepped forward. “If you don’t mind, I’ll make my own. You use entirely too much cheese.”

“The cheese is the best part!” she objected.

If she squinted, she could see the slightest eye roll from Hollis. “The cheese is the only part.”

 

He really should get up, Aloth thought. It was just that the bed was so nice and warm compared to the camps they had made down in the Endless Paths. That, and he had never been much of a morning person and he didn’t intend to change now. But if he spent too long in bed–

_Gie aff yer lazy arse._

–then Iselmyr always had something to say about it. Sighing, he threw back the covers and started fishing around for his socks. Yawning, he pulled on his clothes and then reached around for his–

Aloth’s fingers grasped empty air on the nightstand. His grimoire. He felt a jolt in his chest as he frantically searched in and around the nightstand. The one thing he was never supposed to lose and he had lost it. Under the bed? No. 

_Noo ye’v dain it._

Right, he forced himself to slow down, when had he last had it? He had definitely had it in the Endless Paths. He wouldn’t have left it there, would he? Aloth pushed back visions of scraggy xaurips pawing their claws over his book of spells. He probably just left it downstairs after dinner. Yes, that made sense. He had been rather distressed at the whole ordeal, he must have just been distracted.

Pushing his worry down, he stepped out into the hallway closing the door softly behind him and started downstairs at a forcedly even pace. As he started across the hall, he was almost bowled over by Honeysuckle heading from the kitchen to the front door.

“Pardon me.”

“Sorry!” Honeysuckle twisted her torso back to avoid running into him. Skidding to a halt, she looked at him somberly. “If you’re looking for breakfast, Heather’s cooking,” she said in a tone implying that perhaps he should rethink looking for breakfast.

While unknown why Heather’s cooking was to be avoided, it was not Aloth’s primary concern. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen my grimoire lying around anywhere?”

She cocked her head to the side, “That’s the magic book, yeah? I dunno. I think Hyacinth’s doing something with her magic book in the dining room? Ask her? Come on, Bumblebee.” She bounded to the door.

“Are you really going outside?” asked Aloth. “It’s raining.”

Honeysuckle looked back and rolled her eyes dramatically at him. “So? It’s just water.” She pulled the lioness, who seemed less enthused about the rain, out the door and slammed it behind her.

Recomposing himself, Aloth strode toward the dining room. Peering in, he saw Hyacinth at the desk with two books open in front of her, furiously scribbling notes into one of them with one hand and trying to pin up her hair with a pen with the other. He cleared his throat. “Excuse me?”

Her eyes widened as she looked up and widened further still as she looked at him. “Oh!” She quickly set down her pens on the desk, her hair tumbling off the left side of her head. Hyacinth’s eyes darted quickly between him and the open books on the desk. “I was just taking a quick look. And some notes. Maybe a lot of notes…” Her ears lowered. “I know I should have asked first but you were asleep. And you might have said ‘no.’”

Aloth’s eyebrows raised as he connected the dots. “You’re a wizard?”

“Yes, well, I’m trying to be.” She closed his grimoire and walked over to hand it to him. “Sorry.” He found it hard to be angry with how pathetic she looked.

He took the book from her outstretched hands and flipped through it to make sure everything was still in order. “I didn’t think there were any schools out in the Deadfire. At least, there are none that anyone talks about.”

“Oh, no. I’m mostly self taught except for a few things I picked up from the local apothecary. You’re the first real wizard that I’ve ever really talked to. When I saw your grimoire open on the desk… I know I shouldn’t have, but I just…” She looked up at him with such sad, brown eyes that Aloth was reminded of an abandoned kitten.

Aloth internally sighed and snapped the book closed. He should be more upset about having his privacy invaded, but having been young and desperate for knowledge himself, he couldn’t entirely blame her. Or the kitten eyes were working. “In the future, please ask?”

Her whole body seemed to heave a sigh of relief and another tendril of hair tumbled down. “Yes, of course.” The big, brown eyes continued to look up at him. “I don’t suppose..? I was in the middle of copying over Arkemyr’s Dazzling Lights…”

Aloth walked over and pulled a chair from the table over to the desk. “Why don’t we go over it together, and then you can practice in a controlled environment?”

Her face lit up with such joy that Aloth felt like the room brightened by a few shades.

 

The rain had picked up. The water soaked into Hazel’s face and hair, running off in droplets onto her shoulders. She and Edér swapped happier stories of their childhoods, trying to one up each other on sibling antics. She hadn’t laughed this hard since she didn’t know when. It hadn’t been this easy to talk to someone since… well, she didn’t want to think about him. She tuned back in to Edér's story.

“–and then when we had rounded up Old Palmer’s chickens, Woden got the bright idea to dye ‘em blue–”

A flash of yellow came bouncing around the corner of the forum. Honeysuckle skipped into view, followed by Bumblebee at her heels. “Hazel! You’re really wet.”

Hazel pinched a lock of wet hair and watched the water drip of the ends. “We are a bit soaked, yes. It might be time to head back inside. Is everyone up?”

Honeysuckle nodded. “I think so. I just ran into the elf guy and I think he was the last in bed. Heather’s making breakfast.”

“What’s so bad about that?” asked Edér.

Honeysuckle looked at him sorrowfully. “She puts way too much cheese on everything. Like, even things that shouldn’t have cheese on them.”

Hazel stood up. “I’m sure we can manage to do some damage control. Did you find anything interesting while exploring this morning?”

Honeysuckle chattered about the ruins as the three made their way back toward Brighthollow.

 

Hyacinth bit the tip of her tongue as she traced the arcane symbols in the air while Aloth described them. Learning from books was fine, but having someone to demonstrate the somatic components made the process go much more quickly than trial and error. And resulted in less damages. She laughed as colored lights appeared in the air across the room. “I want to touch them, but I suppose that’s a bad idea.”

“Rather, unless you wish to be dazed,” said Aloth. “But yes, it is pretty.”

There was a soft knock on the door frame and Hyacinth turned to see Hollis standing with two plates of food. “I come bearing breakfast.”

Hyacinth eyed the omelettes suspiciously. “Who made them?”

“Heather, although I did cheese control.” Hollis walked over to the desk and placed the plates down.

“Are you two alright now? I heard you arguing earlier.” She moved up behind him.

A less trained eye would have missed the flinch from Hollis, but Hyacinth had spent her whole life learning to read him. His ears twisted ever so slightly and he assumed his forced neutral expression as he turned around to face her. “Yes, well…” His voice softened. “Did you overhear us?”

Aloth became very interested in his breakfast.

“No. I heard that you were… exchanging words, but I thought it better to avoid the situation.”

Some of the tension released from his shoulders. “Good, I thought… never mind. You know how Heather is.”

She laid a hand on his arm. “And I know how you are. You’re both incredibly stubborn.”

He gave a wry smile. “We’re talking again. Let’s start with that.”

There was a clatter in the hallway as the door burst open and people poured inside. Dripping water all over the entryway, Hyacinth noted.

“So there’s a hand under the fingers?” asked Honeysuckle.

“Yep, giant hand made of adra,” said Edér.

“Does it go all the way down?”

“Dunno, maybe. I dunno why someone would build a giant statue made of adra and bury it in the ground, though.”

“Hazel, can I go see?”

“Maybe, but not by yourself,” said Hazel. “I’m serious, Honey, don’t go down below by yourself. It’s not safe. We went down with five people and had some close calls.” Hazel took off her cloak and hung it on its hook. Her hair dripped onto the back of her shirt. And the floor.

Hyacinth looked askance at the muddy paw prints tracked in by Bumblebee and the dog. “You’re all soaked! Let me get some towels.”

“I’ve got it, Hy,” said Heather, stepping out of the kitchen. “Eat your breakfast.”

Hollis squeezed Hyacinth’s hand and followed Heather up the stairs.

Hyacinth turned back to the desk and picked up a fork. She grimaced slightly as she took a bite of the omelette. Hollis had reduced the amount of cheese Heather put in, but he didn’t stop her from mixing cheeses. Deciding it was still edible, she took another bite.

“If you feel you’ve gotten the hang of Arkemyr’s Dancing Lights, we could try Mirrored Image,” said Aloth. “It’s nice, contained, and non-damaging in the interests of staying indoors.”

Hyacinth’s ears perked up. If Aloth wasn’t just humoring her and was willing to actually teach her… “That sounds excellent!”

Aloth launched into a discussion about the theory as they ate their breakfast, the noise of everyone else filling in the background. Yes, she could get used to this being home.


	5. Welcome to Defiance Bay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving at Defiance Bay leads to more questions than answers.

“But why did we have to leave Dunnage?” asked Heather, looking up at their mother.

Hazel held tightly to Hollis’s hand in the bustling street. So far she didn’t much like Neketaka. Everything about it was bigger and louder than Dunnage: the buildings, the streets, even the people, she thought as they passed another aumaua. Hazel had to twist out of the way to avoid being run over by the man who wasn’t looking far enough down to see orlan children. It was getting steeper the farther they walked away from the docks. Gulls still circled in the air but the smell of the ocean was reduced, overpowered by the smell of the waste on the edges of the streets.

Next to her, their mother held onto Heather’s hand and baby Hyacinth in her other arm. “We’re trying to build a better life than we would have there.”

“But we don’t have anywhere to go here,” said Heather.

“Do we have a plan?” asked Hazel.

“Why isn’t Dad coming back?” asked Hollis.

Their mother blew a lock of hair out of her face as she maneuvered the children around the passersby. “You all would try the patience of Wael.”

“I thought Wael liked you to ask questions,” said Heather.

“That doesn’t mean you’re going to get good answers,” said their mother.

They passed by a man stretched out on a pallet with withered legs holding out a bowl. He wasn’t the first beggar they had passed. “Mom, I don’t think this is a very nice place,” said Hazel.

Their mother sighed. “We’re going to try to make an honest living. Which means we have to work our way up. I won’t have my children growing up to be pirates.”

“But what if I want to be a pirate?” asked Hazel.

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Then, Wael give me patience, you can be a pirate when you grow up. After you’ve considered other career options.” She stopped in the street and knelt down to look Hazel in the eye. “Hazel, I need you to be a big girl. I know you have all sorts of adventures in your head, but I need you to watch out for your siblings. They’re counting on you. Can you be a big girl?”

Hazel gripped Hollis’s hand. “I can.”

 

The packed entrance to Defiance Bay reminded Hazel of their first arrival in Neketaka. More humans and less aumaua, but still the same look of desperation she had seen in her mother’s eyes. Their small group was jostled by the teaming mass entering the gates. While Aloth and Edér could see fine, Hazel, Heather, and Hollis were engulfed by the crowd, the mass of bodies warm in the cool, spring air. Hazel tried to concentrate on following the man in front of her, taking care to make sure Ladybug–the old, black hound newly christened by Honeysuckle–remained at her side.

Heather’s voice came from behind her. “So were you actually dating a gang boss?”

Hollis sighed. “Do we really need to get into this?”

“Okay, fine. Still working for the Royal Deadfire Company? Exciting life of a paper pusher?”

“Is it possible for you to comment on my life without insulting me?”

Hazel rolled her eyes and turned to Edér. “What are all these people doing here?”

“Refugees,” said Edér. “From the Hollowborn crisis.”

“I thought the Hollowborn crisis affected all of the Dyrwood,” said Hazel. They walked past a woman holding a baby making no fuss, just staring straight ahead with unfocused eyes. She restrained herself from shivering. It was just _wrong_.

“It does. Not everybody knows it, though,” said Edér. “People coming seeking miracle cures from the animancers.”

Animancy. The study of the soul. From behind Hazel, Aloth made some noise of disapproval. He had insisted on accompanying the group to Defiance Bay. Not there was much for him to do at Caed Nua, Hazel supposed. It was home to Hyacinth and Honeysuckle and a hotbed of research for Kana, but Aloth had no real connection to the place. Hazel just hadn’t expected him to voluntarily experience more of the Dyrwood given his low opinion of it. She wondered again what exactly had driven him to come here in the first place.

Not that Hazel herself had a high opinion of animancy either. Rather, if she was being honest, she had a low opinion of the Vailian Trading Company’s operations and their operations in the Deadfire included mining all the luminous adra they could get their hands on for their animancy experiments. And some of the stories she had heard…

“This is still too many people and too much noise for just refugees, though,” said Heather.

Hazel twisted her ears forward, trying to hear over the throng of people in front of them. There did seem to be some kind of commotion coming from inside the gates. She gripped her hatchet at her belt and tried to stay with her group in the flow of the crowd. As they passed through the gates, Hazel began to make out some of the words.

“The animancers have brought down divine wrath upon us all!”

Peering between the people, Hazel could make out a young man standing on a crate in front of a crowd. Some of the people were muttering among themselves, some were yelling encouragement along with the speaker.

“And yet the duc and his toadies in the Crucible Knights do nothing!” the young man proclaimed. “Can we allow these atrocities to continue unchecked?”

“What are you gonna do about it?” someone from the crowd yelled.

“Us Dozens are gonna put a stop to it!” cried the young man, throwing his arms open. “We’re in the middle of a crisis, and instead of purging the nefarious forces from our city, the duc is granting animancers dangerous liberties!”

“You know anything about the Dozens?” Hazel asked Edér.

“A little. They’re a wanna be militia. Except for the training. And the discipline. And the code of honor,” said Edér. “Named themselves after the dozen men and women that stood on the bridge at Halgot Citadel. Not that any of them live up to the name. Best you can say about them is that they finance some interesting expeditions out to Engwithan ruins. Which is illegal, mind you.”

“They seem to have the right idea about animancy,” said Aloth.

“I don’t think blindly persecuting people is the right idea about anything,” said Edér.

The young man on the crate had kept going, addressing the mass of people entering through the gate. “And we’re always looking to expand. The more people see things our way, the better for the state of the country. Stop by Admeth’s Den. Might even have some paid work for the motivated types.”

“Might be worth stopping by to see if there are any jobs,” said Hazel. “If nothing else to get a pulse on the city.”

Edér shook his head. “You’re the boss.”

“Weren’t you retiring?” asked Hollis. “Settling down, and all that?”

“Yeah, and I wound up with a cursed keep that’ll take a lot of money to fix up, so if we can run some jobs in between trying to fix me, that’d help. Besides, weren’t you looking for work?” Hazel teased.

“I was hoping for something more… stable.”

“I know where Admeth’s is,” said Heather. “Just across the bridge and then right across the marketplace. It’s kind of a rough place.”

 

With the crowd thinning on the other side of the gate, it didn’t take the small group long to make their way around Copperlane. Hazel pushed open the door to Admeth’s Den and was greeted by boisterous voices, the sound of clanging steel, and the smell of sweat and stale beer.

“You always take us to the nicest places, Hazel,” said Hollis.

“Just act like you belong and you’ll be fine,” said Hazel. Well, she and Edér would probably be fine. Aloth, Heather, and Hollis didn’t look much like mercenaries. For the best, she thought. Her siblings didn’t need to lead the same violent life she lead. She strode into the hall.

From the opposite side of the hall, a confident man swaggered toward the door followed by five other mercenary types. He looked down at Hazel with a nasty grin. “This isn’t the place for little girls.”

Hazel internally sighed and stared him straight in the eye, laying her hand to her belt. The best way to deal with these types was to meet their bluster. “We’re not looking for trouble.”

He spat a lob of chew at her feet. “Just know that Byne’s Giantslayers run things around here and you’ll be fine. The choice bounties are ours and we don’t share. It’s that simple.”

“Fye on yer–” Aloth clamped a hand over his own mouth.

A man turned from a table in the middle and yelled across the hall. “Enough jabber, Byne. You gonna do the job or talk about it?”

Byne turned to his companions and nodded his chin toward the door. “That coin isn’t going to collect itself.” They seemed to take extra effort to jostle against Hazel’s group as they filed out of the hall.

“You need something?” the man at the table called to Hazel. No, to Edér. Of course.

“We’re looking for work,” she answered anyway, moving farther into the room.

He looked with some surprise down at her, then ran a skeptical eye over her companions. Hazel held her chin high. Finally, he pointed back to a man leading drills in the back. “Go see Osric. He’s usually got something. You do well for him, maybe I can find you more.”

“Will do,” said Hazel.

As they walked toward the rear of the hall, Hollis quietly murmured, “I repeat my earlier statement.”

“I realize it’s not quite clerical work for the Royal Deadfire Company, but I’ve learned to take what I can get,” said Hazel.

“I can handle myself in a fight; it’s not that I’m worried about–”

Hazel had never seen any evidence to support that statement. “My standards lean more toward morality than legality,” said Hazel. “They ask us to do in some people, we’re out of here. Ask us to crawl around some forbidden ruins, no one’s getting hurt and we get paid.” And hopefully she wasn’t putting her family in danger. She strode up to the man indicated as Osric. “I hear you’re the man to talk to about work?”

Osric looked away from the recruits we was yelling at down at her. “You want an expedition, talk to Wenan.”

So they were giving her the run around. “And he said to talk to you.”

He sneered. “Of course.” After turning away, he hesitated for a moment and turned back. “Although… I do have something that requires… competence.” He looked her over, from the hatchet at her belt to the shield on her back.

She was going to have to pry this out of him. “Look, I’d rather get an expedition from Wenan but we’re getting hazed through you first. If you’ve got something, we’re competent enough. What do you need done?”

“I was… formerly… one of the Knights of the Crucible. When I left, they kept my arms and armor. The arms they can have, but the armor belonged to my family. I’d like it back.”

 

Hazel strode out of Crucible Keep, Penhelm’s affidavit in her hand. “One affidavit, filched out of a desk. I may have, uh, accidentally lined us up a job if we want to go explore Heritage Hill.”

“Heritage Hill?” exclaimed Heather. “They locked that district up because the residents started eating each other. It’s filled with undead.”

“That’s why I said ‘if we want,’” said Hazel. “More importantly, we have this,” she brandished the affidavit, “and we can take it by the ciphers of Dunryd Row to verify it so that we can blackmail Penhelm into giving Osric’s armor back so we can finally get an expedition from Wenan.”

“This is an incredibly convoluted way to obtain honest, dishonest work,” said Hollis.

She couldn’t disagree. “Oh, and apparently Dunryd Row is mostly orlan ciphers, a fact one of the Justicars was none too happy about. The horror. Said to my face that orlans are all too violent and need to be kept under observation. Can you imagine? Orlans just doing their jobs and living their lives?” Hazel said bitterly.

“So we’re not going to be best friends forever with the Knights of the Crucible. Noted,” said Hollis dryly.

“Welcome to Defiance Bay,” said Heather. “Anyway, the ruins of the temple of Woedica are right over there.”

“Before we go there, I think the records office is just to the north. Should we check that out first?” Hazel asked Edér.

Heather rubbed her temples. “Hazel, are you trying to do everything but actually deal with your issues?”

If she didn’t deal with them, she could pretend they didn’t exist for a little longer. “Look, I have no idea what we’re supposed to do there. We’re just following Maerwald’s vague, crazy instructions. So we may as well take care of all of other errands first because who knows how long this is going to take or what holes we’re going to fall down,” said Hazel. She put her hands on her hips. “So records?”

 

“Well, that was bloody useless,” said Heather as they walked out of the ducal palace.

“Look,” said Hazel quietly to Edér. “We’ll get access somehow. Even if we have to clean up the entirety of Defiance Bay to get recognized.”

He gave her a tight smile. “Thanks. You don’t have to go through all this trouble just for me.”

“It’s not any trouble. And who knows what I’m about to drag you through,” said Hazel.

They walked down to the ruins of the temple. Hazel wondered why the city had left it in this state. Why not build over or rebuild? Why leave a ruin in the middle of the government district? There were still scorch marks on the stones and vines twined up the crumbling walls. She felt the need to move quietly, stealthily into the ruins even though there were no signs to keep out. Something felt… strange.

“How much do you know about Woedica?” she asked Heather softly.

“Woedica? The Oathbinder, former queen of the gods, or something like that. Makes sense that her temple would the here, she’s the goddess of justice and laws and stuff like that,” said Heather, who apparently didn’t feel the same obligation to be quiet. “But I’m no expert.”

“You’re the priest,” said Aloth.

“I’m a priest of fucking Wael. That’s about as opposite from the goddess of rules as you can get,” said Heather.

Hazel thought she saw something moving in the corner of her eye. “Shh!” She cautiously crept around a stone wall.

A soul swirled in purple, forming into a elderly, well dressed man in Aedyran fashion. Old Aedyran fashion. Hazel felt the tunnel vision come on as the edges of reality melted away in black and purple. The ghost spoke in a crisp accent, slightly echoing in her mind or her ears, she couldn’t tell, “Praise to the Exiled Queen! May her crown be reformed and her justice prevail.” He turned to Hazel. “Come to pay your respects to the Queen that Was?”

Hazel didn’t know how one was supposed to interact with ghosts, but when in doubt, default to being straightforward. “I was told I’d find a temple of Woedica here,” she said.

“And so you did.” He then scowled. “These savage colonists may have burned it down, but worship of the Oathbinder is alive and well.” Why did that feel so ominous? “These stairs lead down to the main sanctum,” he gestured toward a pile of rubble blocking what may have indeed once been a staircase. “The sanctum was always below ground, adjacent to the catacombs, so it wasn’t destroyed by the fires.”

Hazel looked over to the pile of rubble he had indicated as the staircase. There was no way they would be able to clear that, and certainly not without attracting attention, which was probably the opposite of what they wanted. “Is there another entrance to the catacombs, perhaps?”

“There are various entrances around Defiance Bay, but I daresay the easiest to reach is in Copperlane.” The ghost froze and seemed to reset. Maybe they had detoured outside of the limitations of the memory imprint. He looked through Hazel shook his head sadly, “It’s truly a pity to see what the locals have done to Woedica’s house of worship.”

“Um, right.” If there were any answers to be found about the Leaden Key they were probably below ground rather than in this ruin, but Hazel still grasped for whatever answers she could get. “What can you tell me about Woedica?”

The ghost’s face brightened with a kind of dreamy reverence. “A queen among the gods. She oversees laws and oaths–everything has a rightful place, and Woedica watches over them all.” A shadow passed over his ghostly face. “Of course, not everyone accepts this. Even among the other gods, her authority is questioned. But Woedica is also goddess of memory and vengeance, and she remembers.

“She’ll remember every slight and trespass when she reclaims her throne.”

Hazel felt a shiver run up her spine. She didn’t know if this was an actual ghost or a memory projection from her own past but something echoed in her soul, something she couldn’t quite remember. The ghost seemed to fade into the figure of another robed man. She was supposed to be asking something–

She broke from the vision to see Hollis watching her, face gaunt, ears back. Ladybug whined at her heels.

As he saw her come to, his ears relaxed. “You know, I hadn’t quite believed you when you said… that was incredibly disturbing.”

Hazel gave a weak smile as she patted Ladybug on the head. “It’s not the most pleasant feeling from my side, either.”

“So what happened?” asked Heather. She tried to be nonchalant, but her ears pressed down and Hazel could see the tension in her shoulders.

“Met a ghost, or a memory, or… I don’t know.” Hazel forced her face into a grin. “So who’s ready for more underground tunnels?”


	6. Buried Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danger lurks in the darkness of the Copperlane catacombs.

It didn’t take long for them to find the entrance to the catacombs in the south of Copperlane.

“Yay. More tunnels,” said Heather.

“This is why we did all the other things first,” said Hazel as she pushed open the gate.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dimmer light as she descended the stairs. Luckily torches lined the walls, casting flickering shadows onto a stone walkway bordering an underground aqueduct. Casting light onto a mauled corpse.

Hazel drew up short.

“What is it?” asked Hollis.

“We’re not alone down here,” Hazel murmured and cautiously crept toward the body. She knelt down, meaning to examine the corpse, but something tugged at the edge of her consciousness. She felt an uncertainty that was not her own before being rushed over with emotion.

Now she was hurrying down the path, one she’d walked many times before, a mask pulled over her face. She must make it to the sanctum. They were waiting.

Ahead of her walked another figure in a mask like hers. Who he was, she didn’t know, just as no one knew her. Just the way it should be. They awaited a report, but they didn’t know who from.

It was dark, darker than she would have liked. She tried to ignore the sounds. Just her mind playing tricks, she tried to convince herself. The figure in front of her screamed. She turned to run, but out of the darkness loomed a troll bearing down on her. She felt the panic, her flesh being torn away by claws and teeth, the pain, the end–

“Hazel!”

Hazel wretched herself out of the memory, heart pounding. Standing above her, Hollis looked slightly nauseated. Edér knelt beside her, a hand on her shoulder, eyes scanning the darkness. Heather stood at the ready, fur bristling, brandishing her rod while Aloth hung back near the stairs, eyes darting around nervously.

Hazel stood up, feeling a rush in her head as she did so. “They don’t know who each other are,” she said. “They all wear masks. They’re expecting a report, but they don’t know from who. If we can find a mask, I can possibly sneak in–” she looked down at the body. The mask was gone. “There was another one. If we can find him–”

“Also there are trolls,” said Hollis. “That’s an important detail.”

Edér looked over to him. “How do you know that–”

“Shhh!” hissed Heather.

Hazel swiveled her ears about, straining to hear. As an orlan she could see farther in the low light than the human who lay in shreds on the ground. She heard a slow pounding approaching, and into her vision lumbered a troll. At least four times the size of her, its body was covered in lumps of fungus dripping fluid down its sides. The smell hit her about the same time she saw it.

Hazel elbowed Edér in the side. “Straight ahead,” she muttered.

He slowly stood up. “I don’t see–”

The troll roared. A gunshot cracked. Hollis stood with a smoking pistol.

“Okay, troll,” said Edér unsheathing his saber.

Hazel gritted her teeth, grabbed her hatchet from her belt, and ran forward with a yell. Edér followed. She dug her hatchet into the troll’s leg, puncturing one of the fungus modules. Pus spattered on her face.

The troll bellowed and swung with its claws, slashing at her armor and knocking her to the ground. It came around with another strike but the Larder Door appeared over her, blocking the hit. Edér reeled from the impact but stayed on his feet.

From behind her, Heather intoned an Interdiction. It smoked on the troll in a red light. The troll roared again before freezing in place. Whatever one of the casters had done, Hazel was thankful for it, and they were able to make short work of the troll while it stood paralyzed. A beam of blue light streaked from behind her, hitting the troll in the head. With that it toppled over backwards, more pus splashing up from the impact.

Hazel shook her arms, trying to fling the sticky fungal pus off.

“Why the Hel are there trolls in the catacombs?” said Heather.

“Hey Aloth,” called Edér. “Thanks for freezing the thing like that.”

“That wasn’t me.” Aloth eyed Hollis warily. “You’re a cipher.” It wasn’t a question.

Speaking of Hollis… Hazel turned toward him, livid. “Why do you have a pistol?”

He holstered it inside his coat. “Heather has a magic rod and you’re concerned I have a pistol?”

“You shouldn’t have a weapon. They’re dangerous.”

“On the contrary, I think crawling around troll infested catacombs proves that I should have a weapon,” Hollis said dryly.

“Seriously, Copperlane is a civilized district and there are just trolls living underground?” said Heather.

“Where did you even learn how to use a gun?” asked Hazel.

Hollis straightened the front of his coat. “On the job.”

“Hollis…” Hazel drew out his name. “What exactly did you do for the Royal Deadfire Company?”

“That’s classified.”

“Were you planning on sharing the fact you’re a cipher?” asked Aloth.

“People don’t tend to react well to the fact they think I can read their mind, so no,” said Hollis. “I consider it to be on a need to know basis.”

“Since we’re traveling together, I think we had the right to know,” said Aloth.

“Well, we knew that already,” said Hazel.

“And now you do, too,” said Hollis. “Are there any other critiques to which I need to be subjected?”

“Not to break up this touching dog pile on Hollis,” said Edér, “but there are probably more trolls down here.”

“What the fuck do they even eat?” said Heather.

 

“Okay, so they probably eat the black oozes.” Heather’s fur, slicked in sweat, spiked out from her face at various angles and her braids hung frazzled. Hazel, after being splashed with troll pus and smacked by oozes, was feeling thoroughly sticky as well.

“Hazel, we haven’t found any sign of your other guy,” said Edér.

Hazel sighed. “Look, can we look just a little longer? We’ll probably get more information by bluffing than by walking in and having to slaughter everyone.”

“Can’t you just read the information off their dead bodies?” asked Hollis.

“Thay deserve it, th’ fuckers,” burst Aloth before slamming a hand over his mouth.

“…maybe, but that seems like the way to make more enemies,” said Hazel. “Just around this one more corner?”

A wide archway opened up to a short, wide staircase leading to a lower pit. Hazel could hear movement and make out dark shapes in the blackness. She signaled to the others and crept forward cautiously. Chittering rang in her ears and out of the darkness scrambled little mushrooms on legs.

“The fuck?” said Heather.

“Apparently these catacombs have a major fungal problem,” said Hazel, swinging her weapon into the first sporeling that rushed her. Another one batted at her from her left. A rumbling came from farther down and a ball of yellow pollen flew through the air and hit Edér.

“Troll!” Hollis exclaimed. Attracted by the sound of combat, a troll lumbered around the corner.

“Edér, can you try to hold it up?” Hazel looked over to Edér. He stood with a muddled look on his face before turning and wandering through the mob of sporelings in the opposite direction. “…okay, then. Hollis, lock it down!” She pushed through the sporelings up to the troll trying to ignore the flabby limbs beating into her. Behind the troll, she could now see some type of larger fungal spore flailing around. Her attention snapped back to the troll as it lunged toward her. She held up her shield, blocking the raking claws. The hit rang through her body.

She gave a sigh of relief as the troll froze in place and set to work hacking at it with her hatchet. But the sporelings swarmed her, and for every hit she was battered from behind by rubbery hands.

Somewhere behind her, Aloth gave a cry and Hollis swore. 

“Aloth’s down!” yelled Heather.

“We can do this!” called Hazel as she continued to hack at the troll. “Just take care of the sporelings!”

“Trying!” spat Heather before starting another incantation.

Too soon, the troll rumbled back to motion and Hazel found herself flat on her back trying to block the troll’s claws. The sporelings piled on her.

“Hey!” From the other side of the troll, Edér slammed the Larder Door into its back. It turned to swing at him and Hazel managed to push herself to her feet. Her bruises would have bruises.

“No!” Hazel turned at Hollis’s cry to see him standing over Heather’s unconscious body and a pile of dead sporelings. More swarmed him as he rushed to reload his gun. He met Hazel’s eye. “Hazel, focus on the troll!”

She turned back to the troll. This would not be how they would die. As she swung her arm back to prepare for a hit, a yellow ball of pollen flew through the air and hit her in the face.

What was she doing? She thought it was important but she wasn’t sure. Why would it be important? Who were all these people? She dreamily started to meander away from the troll through the mob of sporelings and gave no resistance and they pulled her down, the world fading into blackness.

 

“Hey!” 

Hazel awoke to see Edér kneeling over her. Her head throbbed and she groaned.

“Good, you’re not dead,” he said, the concern fading from his eyes.

She tried to sit up and the world spun. “Is everyone else…”

“Everyone’s pretty banged up, but alive.”

Hazel reached up to touch her forehead and drew her fingers away wet and sticky. “Everything’s dead?” Why wouldn’t her eyes focus properly?

“Everything’s dead.” His own face was speckled with pus and pollen. She reached up to brush some of it off, but just managed to smear her own blood on his face. He grabbed her hand. “Let’s get you patched up ‘fore you start mothering me.”

“Is she alright?” Hollis limped over.

Edér stood up. “I think she has a minor concussion.”

“I’m fine,” said Hazel. She tried to stand and stumbled into Hollis.

He winced as she forced weight onto the leg he was favoring. “Hazel, you need to slow down for a second.”

“Where’s Heather?” Hazel asked.

“We set up a camp. She’s sleeping,” said Edér. “So’s Aloth. You should get some rest, too.”

“No rest for the Watcher,” muttered Hazel. “We still haven’t found what we were looking for.” Trying to focus her eyes in the dim light, beyond the corpses of their battle she could make out some kith shaped figures. She stumbled in that direction.

“Hazel,” said Hollis, exasperated. “You need to sit down.”

“Just a minute.” Slowly working her way over, she turned over the corpses. The money she pocketed but it wasn’t what she was looking for. Finally, she pulled a rumpled mask off one of them. “Here we are.”

“Great, now come back before we run into anything else.”

Hazel shuffled back to her companions, unsteady on her feet.

“I hope it was worth it,” said Hollis, his arms crossed.

She smoothed the black fabric in her hands. “I hope so, too.”

Edér clapped a hand on her shoulder, causing her knees to buckle. “And now you need to rest.”

“Are you supposed to sleep on a concussion?” Hollis murmured to Edér.

“Don’t know,” said Edér. “But I don’t know what else to do. Hazel, just lie down here.” He guided her toward a bedroll next to Heather.

“I’m fine,” she protested.

“Sure you are,” said Edér as he handed her a wet rag. “But we all need to stick together.”

“Right.” She sat down and wiped off her face with the rag. Everything hurt. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to stretch out. And she could close her eyes for just a little bit. Just for a little bit.


	7. The Oathbinder's Sanctum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe Hazel isn't the only one fighting for her sanity...

It was the blackness again. The blackness and the screaming and the Queen and the pillars again and again and again and again–

Hazel awoke, her muscles screaming. Ladybug looked up from Hazel’s side where she had been sleeping. Hazel scratched the dog’s head and sat up. Her vision didn’t whirl like it had before, so that was an improvement, but her entire body ached. Falling asleep with her armor on had been a mistake. She stretched, trying to appease her muscles, when she sensed something behind her. She twisted around to find Aloth reaching tentatively toward her shoulder.

Aloth drew his hand back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. You just seemed to be… restless,” he said, wringing his hands.

Hazel groaned. “You’re not wrong.” Looking around their camp, everyone else seemed to be asleep. It was impossible to tell what time it was underground. “What are you doing awake?”

“Oh, I–you were thrashing about in your sleep.” He hesitated. “You’ve seemed… preoccupied lately.”

Hazel tilted her head, trying to blink the last of the dreams away. “Right now it seems like you’re the one that’s preoccupied.”

Aloth gave a low laugh. “Mad old Watchers, a cult on our trail… what’s not to worry about? I suppose I’ve just noticed you acting a little… unusual lately. Talking to people who aren’t there, remembering flashbacks of your previous life… I just wanted to make sure you’re doing alright.” He didn’t meet her eye, but stared at a spot on the ground.

Hazel sighed. She was used to insisting she was doing fine, but it felt like too much of a lie in this vulnerable moment. “I don’t know what to make of this, either.”

“Right, I just…” something seemed to spasm over his face, but he pulled his expression back to neutral. “Then I’m in good company of feeling clueless.”

“‘Clueless’ is a strong word. We’re on the trail of the Leaden Key.”

“And then what?”

She didn’t know. “I’m hoping all of this will start to make sense.”

Aloth still wrung his hands, beads of sweat dripping off.

“What’s this really about, Aloth?”

“Nothing, I’m just…” He tugged a lock of his hair. “I’m just worried. It’s nothing.”

“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

“It’s… it’s not a good time. That’s all I can say right now.” He continued to stare at the spot on the ground. “We should rest. I’m sure we’ll have a lot to do tomorrow.”

 

Hazel pulled the mask on as they descended the stairs to the lower level of the catacombs. It smelled like sweat and blood and squashed her ears. She adjusted it so she could see out the eye holes, but it had still been made for someone with a bigger head than her.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Hazel,” said Hollis.

“So do I,” she muttered as she picked her way down the crumbling steps. Torches burned at the base of the staircase, casting light up toward them. As they reached the bottom and started off down the hallway, Hazel felt what was now becoming a familiar, disturbing sensation wash over her, stronger than she had experienced before. In a snap, reality whooshed away in purple and black and in front of her stood multiple, shimmering figures.

One of these figures was the man in the headdress she had seen at Cilant Lîs. He turned toward Hazel. “You are from Creitum, my dear?”

This was a memory. This had already happened. So Hazel was only so surprised when she felt herself speak, “Only recently.”

The man nodded. “A remarkable city. Truly one of the most impressive we have encountered outside of our own. Many exceptional people who have joined our cause come from Creitum.” He regarded her thoughtfully. “What made you decide to join our order?”

She had been a member of the Leaden Key? Of course she had. “I went through dark times. Nothing made sense. That all changed when your order came to my homeland.”

He looked at her softly. “Little makes sense in the false context much of the world has lived under for so long. It is by the mercy of the gods that our faith has been able to reach so many of the heathen in more recent times.” He spread his hands forward. “Are you ready to take the oath? To spread the word of the gods to the lost and heathen?”

She was so certain. “I am…”

The ghostly figures disappeared in a flash of purple. Hazel was thrust back into reality, her breathing heavy. Her mouth felt dry. Had she really been a member of the Leaden Key? Who were… missionaries?

“You have got to stop doing that,” Heather said, but there was an undercurrent of worry to the command. Ladybug whined.

Hazel licked her lips. “That’s what we’re trying to accomplish. We’re on the right track. This way. Just act like everything’s normal.” She continued down the passage.

They arrived at a door flanked by two guards in masks like Hazel’s. They nodded at her and, after scrutinizing her companions, stepped aside to let them pass. One of the guards turned to Hazel. “Please, go on in.” He looked over the group again. “You know the Acolyte doesn’t like guests. I’d keep any friends of yours out of the main chamber.” He shuffled his feet. “She’s already in a state on account of someone being late. No sense in provoking her further.” He peered down at her. “That someone wouldn’t be you, would it?”

“Uh, there were trolls.” She gestured to her pus covered armor. “Thanks for the tip.” The group passed through the doorway. There were two doors; one to the left and one to the right. She needed to pretend like she knew where she was going. With a confidence she didn’t feel, she turned to the right.

Passing through a few doorways, they came to a study. Another masked figure paced back and forth, muttering to himself. “‘…by the deeds of my tongue and–’ on, that’s not it…” He flinched as he saw the group in the room. “By the flame, you startled me.” He looked Hazel over. “Shouldn’t you be in the meeting, Attendant? The Acolyte’s waiting for you.”

“Um, on my way there,” said Hazel. “I couldn’t help but overhear you practicing something…”

She could feel the eyeroll from behind the mask as he resumed his pacing. “I’ve been practicing the passphrases. I know them backwards and forwards, but I get so nervous every time I think about repeating them to the Acolyte.”

“Um, you could practice on me.” Hazel crossed her arms. “Give me your best shot.”

“What are you doing?” Hollis hissed.

“Improvising,” she whispered back out of the corner of her mouth.

Hazel tried to follow along as the initiate spouted the phrases. “Um, sounds good. One more time?”

He repeated his phrases.

Hazel nodded. “Sounds good there, initiate. Keep up the good work. I’ll just be going to that important meeting now.” She turned and strode out of the room as confidently as she could.

“The more you talk to people, the harder it is to keep your cover,” muttered Hollis as they turned down the left passageway. Candles lined the hallway.

“You know that from experience?” asked Hazel.

He glared at her. “I’d just rather not fight everyone in here.”

Suddenly, Aloth stopped short pressing his hand to his forehead. He staggered, coughing. “Back, ye clod. Those hooded fyndes are nye to be trusted.”

Edér patted him on the back. “Aloth, hey, now’s not the best time for… that.”

Aloth frowned. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.” He gave a slight cough into his fist. “This probably isn’t the best place to linger, anyhow.”

“Well, you’ll be lingering here for a bit, because I’m the only one going through that door,” said Hazel.

“Hazel…” Heather protested.

Hazel held up a hand. “We’ve gotten this far. Just stay here and be ready to burst in if anything goes south.” She took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the chamber.

It was a large, circular room held aloft by pillars. In the center was a statue of what Hazel guessed to be Woedica surrounded by candles. Several hooded figures ringed the statue. A woman stood at the head of a line, hand upon the forehead of one of the kith. Hazel stood in silence with the rest of the group until the man stood up and returned to the circle around the statue.

The masked woman turned slowly toward Hazel. “You are late, Attendant,” she said, her voice low as if barely concealing rage. “I’ve been waiting on your reports. Quickly now.” She motioned Hazel forward.

Not knowing what else to do, Hazel walked up to her, trying to keep her breathing steady. There were seven of them. A couple mages, they would need to go first if this went poorly. But it wouldn’t go poorly. She would get through this.

The woman laid her palm on Hazel’s forehead. Words danced through Hazel’s mind and she was unsure if they were spoken aloud or in her head. “State your name and purpose.”

This was one of the phrases the initiate had been repeating. Shit.

_My name belongs to the gods and my hand to their service_ , Hollis’s voice whispered at the edge of her consciousness.

Hazel tried not to feel surprise in case the woman, probably a cipher, could feel it. She just hoped Hollis stayed out of her range. “My name belongs to the gods and my hand to their service,” Hazel repeated.

That was apparently the correct answer. “What company do you seek?”

_I seek the company of shadows, that our labors may remain secret._

“I seek the company of shadows, that our labors may remain secret.”

“Tell me of you labors.”

_To see that the craft of kith and wilder does not disturb what bones the gods have buried._

“To see that the craft of kith and wilder does not disturb what bones the gods have buried.”

“How do we know your purpose?”

_You shall know it by the confession of my tongue, the deeds of my hand, and the oath on my soul._

“You shall know it by the confession of my tongue, the deeds of my hand, and the oath of my soul.”

“And how is your oath guarded?”

_It is sealed by the Leaden Key._

“It is sealed by the Leaden Key.” Hazel repressed a shiver despite the heat of the woman’s palm on her forehead.

Apparently satisfied, the woman’s grip on her mind seemed to relax. “Welcome, Attendant. Tell me of your exploits.”

A vision flashed across Hazel’s mind of a bustling city street in an upscale part of town. But it was rotten. There was madness. There was a man, and he waited. Waited with a sharp purpose.

“Does he wait still?”

“Yes,” Hazel chose randomly, hoping the woman couldn’t tell she had no idea what was going on.

Now there was a flash of the countryside. A signpost reading “Dyrford.” Huddled, cloaked figures. A crumbling ruin.

“Did they arrive?”

Hazel decided not to chance another lie. “It’s uncertain.”

The woman nodded, apparently satisfied. “Your information shall be relayed. Now for your next task…”

A ruined neighborhood. Twisted shapes prowled the streets. A tower. A man. Something not right.

“Stop him. And above all…” A woman, pale, a scar over her heart. “…don’t let him meet her.”

A door in the base of the tower. Copper veins. Could be manipulated. Hazel blinked. She knew how to open the door?

“Right,” Hazel said. The woman withdrew her hand from Hazel’s forehead. She stood calmly, waiting. Waiting for Hazel to do something? “Farewell, then.” Hazel backed slowly out of the door, knowing it was suspicious looking but not wanting to turn her back on the group. Don’t think anything incriminating, don’t think anything incriminating–

She breathed a sigh of relief as she passed through the other side of the door and closed it with a thud. Hazel turned to Hollis. “I suppose you got all that, then?”

He nodded. “And be glad that one of us took notes.”

“What’s going on?” Heather butted in. “Did you learn anything, Hazel?”

Hazel shook her head. “Just… just more questions. More of a trail. We should get out of here.”

 

After ascending back to the upper level of the catacombs, Hazel filled her companions in on the visions she had received.

“Well, I know where Dyrford is,” said Eder.

“And the crumbling district is definitely Heritage Hill,” said Heather. “The other one? Could be Brakenbury. There’s an asylum there–or an animancy institute, depending on how you look at it. But what are we learning by chasing this all? We’re just falling deeper into the schemes of this cult.”

“I don’t know,” said Hazel. “I just…” she hesitated. “I feel like I have to chase this down. That if I can unravel this, then maybe I can make sense of myself. I know from the visions I’ve had that the previous me was mixed up with them. Maybe if I can figure out what she was doing, how she fit into all of this she can make peace with me.”

Aloth shuffled from foot to foot, wringing his hands. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as if to say something, then thinking the better of it. Finally, with a shudder, he spit out, “I feel I should explain myself.”

Hazel raised and eyebrow, then realized she was still wearing the mask and pulled it off. A breath of fresh air–at least, fresher–rushed into her nose. “What is it, Aloth?” 

He twisted his fingers. “About my episode in the catacombs… There’s something I should have told you earlier.”

Like when he woke her up earlier. “I’m listening.”

“I meant no harm. I… thought I could keep it to myself. That when we resolved the matter of your soul, we would also address my… problem. I now see that your situation will be more… complex.” He took in a deep breath. “I also have an Awakened soul. But, unlike yours, mine is a presence that shares my senses and skin, making herself manifest at the most unwelcome times.”

So that’s what was with the outbursts in Hylspeak. Hazel almost wanted to laugh, but for the watery look in Aloth’s eyes. Two Awakened people, thrust together by chance, slowly going mad.

“I’m sorry,” he shook his head as though trying to fling the other presence from it. 

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about,” said Hazel. “It’s not your fault.”

“I’ve tried to learn to control Iselmyr. I’ve gotten stronger, but so has she.” His hand balled into fists.

“‘Iselmyr’ being your awakened self?” asked Hazel

“Yes. She is…” his face flickered as if he was wrestling for control over his body. It seemed like he lost as his face split into a saucy grin and a strong accent said, “Aye, this one’s fet to boil! Hard to get his gaff over anything tisn’t to do with books and spellspeak.”

Aloth seemed to wrest control back. “She’s artless, uncouth, reckless! She never stops to gauge a situation, she just… acts. She doesn’t think, and she doesn’t back down. And trying to suppress that has been my problem for years.”

“I get why you might have a problem with that,” said Edér, “but it’s pretty funny from our side.”

Aloth frowned. “I learned to keep her a secret a long time ago. Those with Awakened souls are shunned. Mistrusted. And after your experience with Maerwald, I’m certain you can see why. I hope… I hope we can find something to help before that happens to you, Hazel.”

“Are you going to be alright?” asked Hazel.

He smiled weakly. “Alright as I’ve been for the last fifty years. I’m more concerned about you. If we need to go to Brakenbury Sanitarium anyway, it might be good… it might be good to see someone there?”

“Is this about me or you?” Hazel asked softly.

Aloth shrugged and stared at a spot on the ground.

Hazel made a mental note that they would definitely be stopping by there. No matter what Aloth said, fighting with yourself for fifty years seemed worse than what she was experiencing. “Well everyone, let’s hunt down the Leaden Key.”

“They were after Kana too, right?” said Edér. “Is he gonna be okay?”

“I hope so,” said Hazel. “Now come on, I’ve had enough of the catacombs.”


	8. Holding Down the Fort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is peaceful back at Caed Nua. Or is it?

Hyacinth sneezed as she brushed dust from the old shelves in the library. Hazel had workmen fixing up the main keep, so Hyacinth might as well tidy up the adjacent rooms. It definitely had nothing to do with being interested in what knowledge Maerwald may have collected. She was definitely not hoping to find further books on magic. It was just a concern for the well being of the books. Hired workmen wouldn’t care as much about them as she did. What if they got hurt?

She sighed as she grabbed a book off the shelf and flipped through the pages. Most of these were in pretty bad shape already. Water damage, mildew, those looked like… bite marks? She shook the book and a few pages fell out. Maybe it would be best to start making ‘keep’ and ‘not keep’ piles.

A few hours later and her ‘not keep’ pile was decidedly larger than her ‘keep’ pile. It broke her heart to have to trash so many books. Maybe she could go over the ‘not keep’ pile again with lower standards, try to salvage a few more…

But first, one last row. Hyacinth dragged her ladder over to the bookshelf and started to climb. She was almost to the top row when the aged ladder chose this moment to crack. Her foot broke through the rung and she toppled into the bookshelf, pulling some of the shelves and books down on top of her as she fell to the ground.

“Oww…” Hyacinth winced and checked herself over as she pushed the books off. Besides getting pummeled with books, she seemed to be fine. She pulled a splinter of wood out of her fur. One of the benefits of being fluffy. Feeling her hair, many of the locks had burst loose from their pins. It didn’t seem salvageable without pulling it all out and redoing it. Not that this was the place for it.

Trying to ignore the incessant feeling of her hair losing its battle against gravity, she looked back up at the bookshelf. Two whole shelves had come loose and another was cracked in two. She sighed and stood up. Might as well still try to salvage what she could reach.

As she pulled books down by the armful, she noticed a panel loose on the back of the bookcase above her head. Now that was interesting. She could just manage to pull it open as she stood on her tiptoes. Hyacinth strained to feel for the contents. Some sort of dowel and another book. She bit the tip of her tongue as she struggled to pull them out with her fingertips. Finally getting a grasp on the dowel, she inched it out. As she examined it, it glowed slightly purple and gave off sparks when she waved it around. A magic wand! She always wanted a magic wand. Which meant, was the book…?

After a bit more struggling she managed to wiggle the book down out of the compartment. She promptly screamed and threw it across the room as a spider crawled across the cover. Without thinking, she brandished the wand at the spider, letting out a purple jet of light and singeing the cover of the book. She peered over at it. It seemed to be spider free.

Creeping cautiously in case any more spiders showed up, she tiptoed her way over to the smoking book on the floor and flipped open the cover with the tip of the wand. It was a grimoire! All fears of spiders forgotten, she greedily swooped it up. She flipped through the pages. Lots of new ones. Chill Fog. Bulwark Against the Elements. Fireball!

Rushing to where her own grimoire sat on a side table, she pulled a pen out of her hair which was the final straw for the mass to come tumbling down. She could retrieve the hair combs later. Right now there were new spells to be learned!

 

Later on the grounds, Hyacinth chewed on her tongue as she tried to aim with the magic wand at a nearby tree interspersed with casting. The Miasma of Dull Mindedness surrounded the tree right on target, but the blast from the wand went wide. “Oh, bother.”

“Are you playing at being a wizard again, Hyacinth?” Honeysuckle bounded up behind her.

Hyacinth turned around in a huff. “I’m not playing at being a wizard, I am a wizard. Weren’t you helping Kana down in the second level of the basement?”

Honeysuckle scratched Bumblebee on the head. “Yeah, but I don’t know much about Engthiwan architecture, so it was pretty boring. He’s really excited, though. I wish we could go farther down. It’s not as much fun exploring the already explored parts.”

“Hazel told you not to go down by yourself.”

Honeysuckle rolled her eyes. “I know. What’s that?” She pointed to the cloud of Miasma of Dull Mindedness surrounding the tree.

“Miasma of Dull Mindedness,” said Hyacinth.

“Oh.” Honeysuckle twitched an ear. “Well, the tree looks really dull minded.”

“Thank you. Wait–”

But Honeysuckle was already bouncing away, her blonde ponytail swinging.

 

Later at dinner, Hyacinth spooned some potatoes onto her plate. “What are the lore chanters of Rauatai like, Kana?”

Kana wiped his mouth with his napkin before speaking. “There are some who would tell you, my eldest brother included, that we spend our days in wine and song weaving flowers into our hair.”

“That sounds boring,” said Honeysuckle, half a bite of food in her mouth.

Kana let out a booming laugh. “I was just about to tell you it wasn’t that exciting.”

“But you preserve your culture’s lore,” said Hyacinth. “That’s a meaningful profession.”

“Exactly,” Kana beamed. “I would argue that the lore chanters are Rauatai, for without our history, how do we know ourselves?”

“I always found chanters fascinating,” said Hyacinth. “But I’ve got no business chasing down education in two occupations when I can’t even get formal education for one–”

Honeysuckle dropped her fork and twisted her ear toward the window. “There’s someone outside.” Bumblebee growled softly. “Multiple someones.”

Wild animals hadn’t wandered this close inside the grounds before. Taking care to not make any sudden movements, Hyacinth looked out the window in the corner of her eye. There did seem to be dark figures moving about, getting closer to Brighthollow. She gripped the wand in her pocket. “Kana,” she said lowly, “Where is your greatsword?”

“On the weapon rack in the hallway,” Kana said softly, his low voice still reverberating. “There’s definitely someone?”

“I count five,” said Honeysuckle.

“I don’t suppose it’s Hazel and the others come back early?” Hyacinth tried to convince herself.

“That would be the best situation, yes.” Kana pushed his chair out from the table and stood up. “But fortune favors the prepared.”

They headed out to the hallway, Hyacinth grabbing her grimoire off the desk, and waited; Kana with his greatsword ready, Honeysuckle with her bow drawn.

The door slowly swung open, and on the other side stood five hooded figures who, despite their masks, seemed surprised to see them armed and waiting.

Honeysuckle loosed her arrow and it stuck in the front man’s chest with a thud. Bumblebee charged forward with a roar and Kana followed close behind starting a chant.

She should ask him what they were called, Hyacinth thought. What did what so they could coordinate. Worry about that later, said the voice in her mind. Live now. Right. Arkemyr’s Dazzling Lights, leave them dazed. Wizard’s Double, protect herself. Throw a blast into the middle of them. She giggled tensely as her shot flew true and the blast impacted with all the figures stuck in the doorway. Fleet Feet Honeysuckle so she could shoot faster.

A blast collided into her, leaving her short of breath. She tossed her head to fling her hair back from her face and shot a blast from her wand back. The one who shot her started casting a spell of his own. She countered with a Thrust of Tattered Veils. An arrow from Honeysuckle thumped into him, her previous target having gone down.

Glancing at Kana, he seemed to be taking a lot of blows. It was now four versus four, more fair, but if Kana went down… 

She could try it. She hadn’t practiced it. She could kill them all. But she could try it. Hyacinth gritted her teeth and started the incantation. Needed to place it right, don’t hit Kana and Bumblebee…

The fireball exploded, drenching all the hooded figures in flame. The man Kana had been fighting and the mage went down. Kana drew back and started an invocation, a phantom appearing after a few seconds that, with a screech, bore down on the remaining two men.

Hyacinth heaved a sigh of relief when, after a few more greatsword swings and arrows, all the hooded figures lay dead on the floor.

Honeysuckle turned to Hyacinth. “I didn’t know you could do that!”

Hyacinth patted her hair. “I… wasn’t so sure I could do that either.”

“When did you learn how to throw fire?”

“This morning.” Hyacinth stuck her wand back in her pocket.

Kana started dragging the bodies outside. He examined their masks. “Leaden Key assassins.”

Hyacinth went through the body of the mage. Another grimoire! Today was swell.

“Are they after you or Hazel?” asked Honeysuckle.

“I’m not sure it matters,” said Kana. “They would have killed us all anyway.”

The three stared down at the pile of five bodies, Bumblebee sniffing a puddle of blood.

“Now what do we do?” asked Honeysuckle.

“Well, first we should chop them into pieces and then bury those pieces around so they can’t be reassembled and identified–” started Hyacinth.

“I suggest we just burn them,” said Kana. “I doubt anyone will come looking for them. Any authorities, that is. In any case, we acted in self defense.”

“Do we have enough wood for a pyre?” asked Hyacinth.

“There’s a bunch of scrap wood down at the forum,” said Honeysuckle.

 

They set to dragging the bodies down to the forum, Honeysuckle and Hyacinth tag teaming a body. Hyacinth panted from the exertion. Kana managed to collect two in the time it took them to bring one down. Eventually, they piled all the bodies on top of a pyre constructed of scrap wood.

“Does anyone have a match?” asked Kana.

“Hyacinth, can’t you just fire blast them again?” asked Honeysuckle.

“I can do that,” said Hyacinth confidently. She did it once, she could do it again, right? “Maybe… stand back a bit.” Concentrating, she let loose another fireball at the pyre and everything lit up, including some of the surrounding weeds in the dirt.

They watched the pyre burn down to ash and Hyacinth tried not to gag from the smell of roasting flesh. When everything cooled off, Honeysuckle walked over and poked the remnants with the toe of her boot. “This still looks super sketchy.”

“We… we can get some buckets and bury it up in the hedge maze,” said Hyacinth.

 

“This is not what I expected to be doing after dinner,” said Kana as they carried buckets of ashes and bones up to the hedge maze.”

“We didn’t even finish dinner,” Hyacinth panted. “And now the ham will be cold.”

“Aw, man,” said Honeysuckle. “We should have saved one of the guys for Bumblebee. It’s hard to feed a lion.”

“That might have been going a bit far, Honey,” said Hyacinth.

“We can… consider it next time.” Kana dumped out his bucket into the hole he had dug in the hedge maze.

“You think there will be a next time?” asked Hyacinth.

“I’m certain of it. The Leaden Key does not give up easily.” Kana wiped off his hands.

“Maybe they should send more guys next time,” said Honeysuckle, her hands on her hips.

“I’d rather they didn’t.” Hyacinth dumped her bucket on top of Kana’s. “Now let’s finish up with this because I am desperately in need of a bath.”

 

That night, Hyacinth curled up in bed with her new grimoires, her fur freshly fluffy. Yes, today had been a good day. Except for maybe the assassins. And the spider. She hated spiders.

She would be a real wizard yet, Hyacinth thought drowsily. She would be real wizard yet…


	9. Rude Awakenings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To Brakenbury Sanitarium, where the leading minds in animancy must be able to help with Awakenings, right?

Something about Brakenbury Sanitarium just felt… wrong. The fur on the back of Hazel’s neck stood on end as they descended the stairs to the lower level. Potted plants still lined the hallways, but the lighting seemed to grow dimmer. The lack of windows underground, she tried to tell herself. She’d just spent too much time underground recently. Hazel tried to draw as far inside herself as she could, not wanting to brush up against the edges of any of the tortured souls who inhabited–or used to inhabit–here.

It was straightforward enough to find the Vailian animancer’s office, although Hazel couldn’t help but peer at the guarded door at the end of the hall that lead to the patient ward. The group piled into the office with Aloth trailing at the back. Only a few torches illuminated the dim room. While there was a desk and a couch arranged over a plush red carpet, Hazel’s attention was immediately drawn to a large cage in the far right corner behind restraining frames with thick copper bands. A cage that looked like it was used for holding kith.

Aloth hesitated in the doorway, his fingers trailing against the door frame. “Maybe… maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

Heather grinned. “It may not be a good idea, but it’ll sure as Hel be interesting.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of: it being too… interesting.” Aloth’s eyes lingered on the equipment in the corner.

“The lady’s standing right there.” Edér nodded to the ocean folk woman in a bright purple coat pacing back and forth over the red carpet.

She muttered to herself as she leafed through pages of notes, dropping a few pages here and there. On her last pivot, she turned a bit too far to the left and almost walked into Edér. “ _Eccosi_!”  She fumbled to prevent her papers from dropping. “Here I am looking so hard for answers in my research that I do not see the kith standing in front of me.” She looked up at Edér appreciatively before her eyes drifted over the rest of the group. Her attention snapped back to Edér and her face broke into a wide grin. “Where are my manners? I am Bellasege.” She stuffed her papers into one arm in order to extend the other. A few more pages broke lose and drifted to the ground. “What can I do?”

Hazel stepped forward. “We’re looking for an expert on Awakenings.”  It had to be a Vailian animancer, didn’t it.

Bellasege looked down at Hazel quizzically, her hand still outstretched to Edér. After looking back and forth between them a few times and apparently finally deciding that Hazel was the one to deal with,  extended her hand to Hazel instead. “ _Ac_ , that would be me. Though the lack of research subjects has made me more of an expert in counting floorboards.”

Hazel shook her hand in a firm grip. “ I would have thought this was a place with plenty of… research subjects.”

Bellasege laughed bitterly. “Most of the patients here are too broken to produce reliable results. It is a tragedy, to have come so far for nothing.” She shrugged, a few more papers drifting loose  as Hazel bristled at the term ‘broken .’ “If you have questions, I can try to answer. Just know that most of my research has been of the theoretical.”

“Well actually,” Hazel looked back at Aloth who was gripping the door frame with white knuckles. “Our situation is of the practical nature.”

Bellasege bounced on her feet. “ _Gellarde_! Which one of you is it?” She peered at the five companions as though she could see into their souls with her naked eyes.

Aloth slightly frowned, his knuckles whitening even more. “I don’t know about this.”

Bellasege zeroed in on Aloth, beaming. “Don’t be silly. The process is perfectly harmless. All you must do is stand in that cage.” She pointed to the cage in the corner.

Heather broke into a wide grin and Aloth took a step back out the door. “I beg your pardon?”

Bellasege laughed and waved her hand dismissively. “I jest! You Aedyrans are so uptight. I do not even know what the thing is used for. It belonged to the last occupant of the office, I think. Now they upgrade him to a cell.” She paused as if to judge their reactions. Even Heather seemed a bit taken aback. “Again, I jest. He is perfectly fine to be out in society. Mostly.

“Right, then.” Bellasege rubbed her hands together. “So I will need you to sit here…”

Hollis nudged Aloth forward. Aloth took a few tentative steps into the room. Bellasege, apparently deciding the process was proceeding too slowly, walked forward, grabbed Aloth by the shoulders, and steered him toward the couch.

“And try to relax.” She patted Aloth on the back in what probably was supposed to be a comforting manner. “But don’t try too hard. Then you will not be relaxing, no?”

Aloth continued to frown as he allowed himself to be seated on the couch. “Indeed.” His eyes were entirely humorless.

Bellasege rummaged in her desk. “And you must also wear these.” She held up a trio of thick copper bands. “A little cold, but the copper will help conduct your essence.” She set to fastening them to Aloth’s forehead and wrists.

“Try not to look so enthused, Aloth,” said Heather as Bellasege tightened the bands. “Someone might mistake you for enjoying yourself.”

Aloth gave Heather a withering glare.

Heather shrugged and tugged on the ends of her braids. “This was your idea.”

“Now then.” Bellasege clapped her hands together. “Now I just examine your soul through my scope.” Out of her desk she pulled some kind of instrument that looked almost like a telescope, a long tube covered in knobs and dials of all shapes and sizes. She noticed Hazel staring and held it up. “It is fitted with adra lenses cut to different thicknesses and concavities. By manipulating them, I find the angles and densities that will allow me to track the anomalies in his soul.”

Hazel had to admit she was slightly impressed in spite of yourself. “I thought you needed a Watcher in order to see souls.”

Bellasege grinned. “But there are not very many Watchers, no? Science needed to get creative.” She wiggled her fingers.

_And that Vailian science mines the Deadfire for profit,_ thought Hazel.

“Does this mean we’ll get to talk to Iselmyr more?” asked Edér. “I like that lady.”

Bellasege turned back to Aloth. “Your Awakening is so developed as to have formed its own distinct personality? Fascinating.” She leaned back to her desk to scribble a few notes. “We must find this cunning interloper!” She lifted the instrument to her eye and made some preliminary turns. “You will answer some personal questions while I make adjustments.”

Aloth shifted on the couch, tensing like he was about to bolt, before sinking back into the couch with a resigned, “Very well.”

“Do you want us to wait outside?” asked Hazel.

He looked at her with panic clear on his face. “I– I am more uncomfortable with being in here alone.”

Bellasege started to twist one of the knobs. “To begin. Tell me something personal. Something from a time before your Awakening.”

Aloth sat rigidly. “There’s nothing to tell. I was just a normal child living in the Cythwood.”

Hazel already had doubts about this working, but it was definitely not going to work if Aloth wouldn’t cooperate. Hazel reached out to Aloth’s soul trying to do… something. She felt the rough edges of his soul, tangled and spiked almost as if to keep out intruders. Aloth had never been the most forthcoming about himself, but what had happened to him to put up defenses on his soul? “What was your home like?” she said, feeling her own voice toll in Aloth’s soul. “I’ve never been to Aedyr.” As she spoke, she could feel her words roll over the edges of Aloth’s soul, smoothing out and beginning to unlock pieces.

Bellasege continued to fiddle with dials. Hazel wasn’t sure she had even noticed anything. Maybe there were things her fancy instruments couldn’t pick up on.

Aloth closed his eyes. “Comfortable. Modest. Quiet when Mother is away, which is most of the time.” Hazel could feel Aloth’s essence slowly untangling its defenses. “Quiet enough to hear the clink of glass on wood. This is when I know to be the most careful.” There was a flare of essence, of stress. “Father is good about hiding the bottles. Mother, when she is home, is good at pretending not to notice them.”

Bellasege interrupted. “This is good. I am starting to see… something. Continue. Tell us about the time you Awakened.” She bit the tip of her tongue in a manner that reminded Hazel of Hyacinth as she twisted another dial.

The words started rushing out of Aloth now. “I am in my fifth year of training. Mother is home. I can let my guard down a little because when she is around, he is usually only angry with her. But he has heard that I have had trouble casting missiles. That my flame shields are unstable. He is furious that I have failed, and Mother’s presence reminds him that he has failed, too.

“The first blow takes me by surprise.”

Hazel’s tongue felt heavy in her mouth as her breath caught. _Oh, honey_.

Aloth continued on, oblivious to her. “One moment I am sweeping the kitchen, the next I am sprawled on the ground, stupidly looking at flecks of my blood on the tile. His boots, glistening with fresh polish, thud across the floor. He kicks me in the stomach, and I curl up to shield my vitals. But it’s pointless. Protecting one thing only leaves something else exposed.

“Still huddled on the ground, I retreat as fast as I can. I retreat until the vision of the kitchen and my own trembling knees is nothing but a pinprick against a field of black.”

Hazel, still reaching out, could feel something in his soul shift now as his eyes twitched and his jaw tightened.

“ _Madiccho_!” Bellasege swore. She twisted dials and knobs with a strength of purpose. “He’s hypnotized himself with this old memory.” She swore again. “You have to bring him out of it. I almost have it!”

Hazel, still concentrating on Aloth’s soul, slowly walked up to the couch and sat down beside him. “Hey,” she placed her hand over his on the cushion. “Hey, Aloth. This is just a memory. You’re safe. Everything’s fine now.”

There was a violent shift in Aloth’s soul  as something seemed to retreat and something else surged forward. H is eyes snapped open. “ _He’s nere safe when I hap upon him._ ” Aloth’s eyes stared at Hazel, but it wasn’t Aloth behind them.

Bellasege whooped. “That’s it! I’m seeing a shift in his essence. Something spreading and congealing.”

_No shit,_ thought Hazel  as she quickly withdrew her hand .

She looked over the scope at Hazel. “Keep talking. He seems to respond to you.”

“Iselmyr, I presume?” Hazel smoothed imaginary wrinkles out of her trousers. “So what exactly are you doing here?”

Iselmyr stared intently out of Aloth’s eyes, a gaze filled with hate and rage. “ _Kraking bones and voices high in ire. That warm molasses feeling that crips down your gut when crisis is nigh._ ”

“ _Belfetto_! We have flares of a totally distinct essence.” Not removing the instrument from her eye, Bellasege scribbled down notes sideways on her desk. “Now, try to get the two of them talking.”

Hazel searched Aloth’s face for any sign of him. This was disturbing as Hel. She wondered if this was anything like how the others felt when she went into a trance. “Aloth, ask Iselmyr what she’s doing.”

Aloth’s essence surged to the forefront and his face twisted in anger. “Sticking weed. Worming parasite.”

Iselmyr wrested control back and broke into laughter. “ _Ye’d say the same to yer own kindled twig when it betrays ye._ ”

“Must be hard to avoid knowing there’s a lady in your body the whole time judging you,” Edér grinned.

“Now is not the time,” snapped Heather. She was looking at Aloth like she’d never seen him before.

Bellasege had continued to scribble notes the entire time. “I can now see two separate patterns of essence. When he ebbs, the other flows. It’s as if the Awakened soul fills the spaces he leaves empty.”

Hazel’s attention snapped back to Aloth, or the… thing that was currently wearing his body. “What exactly are you taking from him?”

Aloth’s body snorted. “ _Nye more than I’m givin’. Ye should ask whit I did that auld man of his. How the last time he laid a hand on us, I brek it in three places._ ” Hazel wouldn’t have thought Aloth’s face was capable of producing a smile with so much ire.

Hazel could feel Aloth roll forward with such a force that his body rocked to the side. “That wasn’t your decision. It’s never been your decision.”

“ _Nye was Awakening. But now I’m stuck with ye, and damned if I let your ninnying drag us both through the scupper._ ”

“ _Ac!_ Very good.” Bellasege finally put down the scope.

“I’m… not sure I can agree with you, there,” said Hazel.

Bellasege nodded acquiescently. “I think I’ve finally got something we can work with.”  She launched into some gibberish about black bile that Hazel couldn’t quite follow.

Aloth looked back at Hazel, blinking, and breathing heavily. So much emotion rolled in his eyes she couldn’t quite tell who was looking out. “That’s utter horseshit.”

Bellasege glared down at him. “Yes, never mind my years of training. I suppose you have a better explanation?”

Hazel hadn’t followed the first explanation.

Hollis cleared his throat. “If I may, I believe that ‘Iselmyr’ may manifest when Aloth is in danger or under pressure.”

Bellasege started, noticing Hollis for the first time. She looked back and forth between him, Aloth, and her notes. “I… suppose that could be true.” She straightened the papers on her desk. “I’ll have to check this against other research.”

Beside Hazel on the couch, Aloth started removing the copper bands from his wrists. “Well and good for you, but what does this mean for me?”

“Well,” said Hazel, “If Hollis is right, and the idea seems sound, Iselmyr takes control from you when she thinks there’s a problem you can’t handle. Sometimes it seems to be useful and sometimes it’s really… not.” She thought back to Gilded Vale when he–it must have been Iselmyr–told that one man to go fuck his sister.

“From my position it’s fairly obviously not.” Aloth set the copper bands down on the couch. “I’ve got a lot to process. Regardless,” he looked down at Hazel, “Thank you for your help.”

Hazel made to punch him in the arm before thinking better of it and settling for kind of an awkward pat. “Anytime. What are friends for?”

“Well!” Bellasege collected her notes. “I hope this has been as useful to you as it has been to me. I finally have material worth publishing. You’ll be the toast of Revua, _Fentre_ Aloth.”

Aloth’s pained expression melted into a cocky grin. “ _Aye, advancing the rightwise principles of animancy. Just what ye’ve always wanted._ ”

Aloth violently shook his head. “That’s enough out of you.” He stood up and turned to Bellasege. “Ah, not to take up more of your valuable time, but I don’t suppose there’s anything you can do for my friend here?” He gestured to Hazel still sitting on the couch.

Hazel’s eyes narrowed. Aloth obviously thought the whole thing was a waste of time. What was he doing throwing her under the cart now?

Bellasege turned to Hazel with renewed energy. “Are you also Awakened?”

Hazel sighed. “Yes… although differently from Aloth. I’m… I’m a Watcher.”

“ _Di verus_?” Bellasege bounced on her heels and pulled out her scope back out. “Oh, you must let me examine you.”

“Well, you can try,” said Hazel. “But my Awakening isn’t as… formed as Aloth’s. I just get bad dreams and occasionally visions.”

“And there’s that whole talking to ghosts thing,” Heather chimed in.

“Are there any ghosts around now?” Bellasege peered around the room through her scope.

“No,” said Hazel. “And I can’t really control when I’m having flashbacks. I’ll go to a place, or something will happen and it’s like it triggers a memory.”

Bellasege adjusted her scope at Hazel. “Well, why don’t we talk about how you Awakened? It cannot hurt anything.”

Based on some of her dreams, Hazel wasn’t so sure of that. “Sure… we had gone into the ruins of Cilant Lîs to escape a bîaŵac. When we came out the other side, there were a bunch of hooded figures standing in front of this giant… machine. Led by this older, robed man with a weird hat. They did some kind of ritual where some of them sacrificed themselves to it.”

“Sacrificed themselves to it?” asked Hollis.

“It… it’s like it sucked out their souls,” said Hazel. “And then there was this flash and I was someone else and that older man was there and I needed to ask him something. I needed to ask him something…”

Bellasege messed with her dials. “Someone keep her talking.”

“What did you need to ask him, Haze?” asked Heather softly.

“I needed to ask him…” Her head snapped back and her vision blurred out.

She stood in front of the pillars of adra like she had so many times in her dreams,  blackness reaching out behind her . She ran her hands over the smooth, green stone, but her hands were not her hands. Instead  of  being  sm all and speckled tan, they were long, pale, and smooth. She peered at her reflection in the adra and while it was difficult to make out, a dark haired elf stared back.

Her reflection swam into the features of another elf. The elf inside the adra reached her hand out to meet Hazel’s. “Sister.”

She was in pain. They were both in pain. Why did she lie? How could she continue to believe this? After all of the torture, all of the suffering, why couldn’t she repent? They could just go back…

“We can never go back, Calanthe,” the elf said.

“But it can’t be true,” Hazel said.

“Ask him.”

The wind picked up around the adra, bringing the shrieks of the heretics to Hazel’s ears. “I can’t.”

“You can.”

Hazel could barely hear herself think now. “But I can’t remember!” she yelled.

Something wretched her shoulder and she found herself back in Bellasege’s office, gasping. Heather knelt at her feet, gripping her hand tightly. Edér sat on her other side,  hand on her shoulder . “ My sister. I did something to her. I was tortured her . And I don’t know  why –” 

Heather squeezed her hand. “It wasn’t you, Haze.”

“But it was!”

“Just like Iselmyr is Aloth? It was somebody else, Haze. A past life. You’re not responsible for what they did or didn’t do.”

Hazel squeezed Heather’s hand back. “Then why am I seeing this? What’s the point?”

“There’s not always a point,” Heather whispered.

“ _Belfetto_!” Bellasege furiously scribbled down notes. “This is wonderful. Instead of an ebb and flow like our other friend, yours is a more subtle intertwining of essence. You have a strong soul, _aimica_. Very little entropy has effected it. You are, how shall I say, more whole. Your Awakening has made you even more whole.”

“I don’t feel more whole,” said Hazel. “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

Bellasege shrugged. “Side effects. A real Watcher,” she muttered to herself as she scribbled some more. She looked back over at Hazel. “What did you say your name was again?”

“Uh, Hester. Hester Thicket,” Hazel lied.

“ _Agracima, tella._ You have given me much material,” Bellasege beamed.

Over Bellasege’s shoulder, Hazel saw Aloth pilfer some of the notes off of her desk. He saw her watching and put a finger to his lips with a pained expression as he slipped the papers into his cloak. She nodded her head and he relaxed. She couldn’t blame him for not wanting his information published, especially with the nonsense that was whatever Bellasege’s theory was.

As they piled out of Bellasege’s office into the hallway, Edér glared at Aloth. “I don’t think throwing Hazel at her was really needed.”

Aloth sighed. “And I don’t think my experiment accomplished anything, either. I apologize, but I needed her distracted while I recovered my own information.”

“But that’s not– she was gonna publish that!”

Aloth pursed his lips. “And I would rather she not.”

“She has my information at least,” said Hazel. “We didn’t completely waste her time, although I wouldn’t feel that bad about it, honestly.”

Heather snorted. “Or Mom’s information.”

“Hey, I needed to say something and I didn’t want her using my name.” Hazel turned to Aloth. “I’m sorry this didn’t turn out to be in the least way helpful, and that we all had to be there for… that.”

Aloth sighed. “I held a poor opinion of animancy prior to this, I’m just… desperate. I don’t know how much longer I can deal with this.”

“Hey, we’ll start a club.” Hazel nudged him with her foot. “It’ll be a really exclusive club and we’ll drink wine and eat fancy cheese as we slowly lose our minds.”

That brought a small smile out of Aloth. “Well, as long as it’s ‘fancy’ cheese.”

Hollis cleared his throat. “Not to be a downer, but there’s another objective we still need to accomplish.”

“Yes.” Hazel looked down the hallway at the doorway to the patient ward. “Finding a spy in the belly of the beast.”


	10. Thaos ix Arkannon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we finally come face to face with our villain and cut through exposition with a hatchet.

A possession. Tampering. The failure of animancy. A job well done. Standing in front of a pillar of adra with a familiar machine...

Hazel was thrust out of the soul of the youth at the end of the North Patient Ward. Jolting back to her body, she could see him studying her through the bars of his door. From what she felt when she reached out to him and the way he was appraising her now, there was no mistaking it. Whoever this had been before, right now the soul that stared through those eyes was the man who had caused her Awakening.

“A Watcher,” he rasped with a voice that seemed like it hadn’t had much use recently.

Hazel balled her hands into fists. “You did this to me. I need you to undo it.”

“Is that so?” He looked her over with disinterest. Giving a small scoff, his eyes met Hazel’s and for a moment seemed to flash with recognition. He tightened his jaw against whatever he had been planning to say next. Collecting himself, he stared down his nose at her. “I know your look. You hunger. Hunger for answers that elude you. It gnaws at your soul. It usurps your reason for being. You are like everyone.”

 

_Thaos Ix Arkannon, grandmaster of the Leaden Key, one of the most elusive and dangerous men Eora has ever known._

 

“I will help you let go.” He stared into her eyes with the same dispassion before crumpling to the ground. As if half in a dream, Hazel could see the soul jump from the body to flesh golem after flesh golem, out the door to the North Ward as the doors to the patient cells swung open. Coward.

“Uh, Hazel?” Edér gripped the sword at his side as the patients and the flesh golems began to advance on their group.

Hazel gritted her teeth. Put her down like an animal? That was his solution? As if he was the first person that ever tried to kill her. He had obviously recognized her and, if she was right, not from Cilant Lîs but from whoever she was before. Whoever she had been to him, he certainly held her with disregard now.

Enough disregard to not even dirty his own hands. Without even the decency to do it himself, but to throw innocent, tortured patients at her? The next time they met she was going to have a few choice words for him. Some of them might involve her hatchet.

Aloth cast a spell and a red, glowing staff appeared in his hands. “Might I suggest it’s time we took our leave?”

Hollis’s pistol cracked. A bullet lodged into the arm of an advancing flesh golem. It plodded forward with no reaction.

Gritting her teeth, Hazel grabbed her hatchet and charged forward.

 

_What scraps of evidence exist suggest that he has died many times, only to be reborn each time, exactly the same man._

 

Back out on the streets of Brackenbury, Hazel staggered to the side as the world melted away. She stood before the older, robed man, her stomach tying itself in knots as he approached her.

He looked her in the face, concern in his eyes. “The other missionaries say you’ve been neglectful of your duties.”

Hazel’s stomach twisted further. “They lie.”

He shook his head and waved his hand, seeing through her deflection. “They speak out of concern for you. Now tell me, is there something to their concerns?” 

Hazel couldn’t look him in the eye. “Forgive me, Eminence. I wish to leave the order.”

The man steepled his fingers and brought them to his face, thoughtful. “You have been an apt student and your convictions have inspired those around you. May I ask what has changed to make you feel this way?”

Hazel played with the end of her hair, twisting it around her long fingers. “The people we intended to convert… they committed unspeakable acts. Sacrifices. Mutilations.”

The man slowly let a breath out through his nose, his lips pursed. He was not angry with her, Hazel could see it in his eyes. He was… sorry for her? He placed a hand on her shoulder, a comforting hand. “These are the ways of the heathen world.”

Hazel shook her head, blinking back tears. “Surely the gods would do better to destroy us all and start anew!”

The man chuckled to himself without humor, for a moment lost in thought. “Perhaps they would. It may come to that one day. That is why we must not fail.” His grip on her shoulder tightened. “The heathens are beyond the gods’ reach. They do not know better. We are tasked with delivering them to the gods so that the gods may heal their souls.”

Hazel bit her lip. “Is such a thing even possible?”

The man smiled a smile heavy with years. “I have seen it with my own eyes. You will see it, too… if you choose to remain.”

Hazel said nothing.

“There is no greater calling than the one we have chosen. Neither words, nor wealth, nor battle will end this suffering. Only the gods. Will you give them that chance?”

Hazel knew. She knew what she had to do. The knot in her stomach melted away, replaced with a certainty of purpose.

 

_He is said to be one of Woedica’s favored, and that old bat was never one to let rules get in the way of favoritism._

 

It all seemed crazy. What had Hazel gotten herself mixed up in? She watched Lady Webb watching her over her papers in Dunryd Row. The old spymaster’s hands creased as she folded them together on her desk, papery skin sliding over bone. As old as she was, her eyes were still sharp as she studied Hazel. A two thousand year old conspiracy. Animancy. The gods. A man that wouldn’t die. And here was an invitation to dig deeper.

Thaos obviously wasn’t going to help her, at least not out of the goodness of his heart. She could walk away now. Accept her slow descent into madness, try to live the rest of her life as best she could before she was overcome by the visions that plagued her. Or she could continue chasing the source, possibly dooming herself and whoever she dragged down with her in the process.

Hazel thought again of the boy in the Sanitarium. Who had he been before? How much more had he been damaged by being forced to play puppet to Thaos? How many others had Thaos manipulated then cast aside? An image flashed across her mind of Hyacinth crumpling to the ground like the boy.

She looked Lady Webb square in the eye. “I’m in.”

 

_With any luck, when he has finished his business he will surely come and find you again, if only to kill you while you sleep._

 

Hazel laughed. Who said anything about her sleeping?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For real, in my outline this chapter is called "recap exposition." The next chapters are "beat chapter" followed by "Hyacinth interlude."


	11. But the Days and Nights Are Long

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot to unpack after a long day.

The lights burned low in the common room of the Charred Barrel. Hazel stared into the remains of her drink, her ears listless. Perhaps the place was a little upscale for the likes of them, but after everything that had happened that day–from the Sanitarium to Lady Webb to the Crucible Knight Penhelm attacking them in the street–it seemed easiest to walk to the nearest tavern and collapse.

Except she wasn’t collapsing. She’d go to bed when she finished her drink, she kept telling herself. Hour after hour. One by one everyone had trickled upstairs to bed except for her and Aloth. They sat together in in the empty room, Hazel failing to drink and Aloth shuffling through papers.

She broke the silence. “Are those Bellasege’s notes?”

He made an indistinct noise that she interpreted as affirmation.

“Anything interesting?”

Aloth rolled his eyes and threw down the papers with a scoff. “Of all the preposterous… magniloquent… poppycock!” He picked one of the sheets back up and brandished it. “An overabundance of black bile? Really? For a jumped up, barely scientific field, that’s the best they can come up with?”

“Animancy’s a bunch of garbage,” said Hazel, leaning into her elbows on the too tall table. “But at least you can say you’ve tried now.”

Aloth crushed the sheet of notes in his fist, the paper crinkling in the quiet room. “I’ve always detested animancy.” He stared down at the table, breathing heavily in and out his nose. “There are some things kith are not meant–” He ran his fingers through his black hair and sighed. “I’ll spare you the lecture.”

Hazel thought back to the state of the locked patient ward, with patients behind barred doors like cells. Remembering her pangs of sympathy for their state and the fear that one day this would be her, locked away from the world and lost to her own mind. “At least if they’re going to dip into forbidden knowledge, they should be better at it.”

Aloth closed his eyes, a small smile playing over his face before he sighed again. “My hope was foolish. And I knew that, but there was a small part of me that wanted to believe a solution existed. That someone out there knew more than I did.” He opened his hand to let the crumpled paper bounce on the table. “My misplaced faith has been corrected.”

“Do you think I’m a fool for chasing Thaos?”

He looked down at his hands, not meeting her gaze. When he spoke, it was slowly, as if choosing his words very carefully. “I think our situations are different. It is possible that learning more about your situation, about your previous life, could bring you some amount of peace.”

Hazel couldn’t fault him for his lack of confidence when she had thoughts along the same lines. “If nothing else, at least the Leaden Key is sketchy as Hel and whatever they’re up to, I don’t like it.”

“Yes. Quite.” He still refused to meet her eyes.

Hazel tilted her head down and around to try to look him in the face. “Aloth, you know you don’t have to come with, right?”

He looked at her, startled. “Pardon?”

“We’re going to be poking into some dangerous stuff and if you’re not comfortable with that, that’s okay.”

His eyebrows scrunched together. “Are you… are you telling me to leave?”

“No, of course not. I’m just saying I’m not going to force you to follow me around.”

His expression flattened out before his lips twisted into a crooked smile. “But you take us to such interesting places. And discover new goos of varying consistencies.”

It wasn’t an answer either way, but it wasn’t screaming and running for the hills. Even with everything she’d learned today, she still didn’t understand Aloth. Hazel took a small sip of her beer. She couldn’t remember what it was, but it tasted more pretentious than what she was used to drinking. Maybe that was why she hadn’t finished it yet. Unfamiliar. “With everything that’s happened today, are you doing okay?”

Aloth let out a short laugh, surprised. “Me? I feel like I should be the one asking you.”

“You got into some very… personal stuff when we were at the Sanitarium and–”

“It’s all in the past,” he cut her off. He plastered a pleasant smile on his face, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “There’s no use dwelling on it.”

“I’m here if you ever want to talk.” Or need replacement parents, she thought.

“I… I appreciate it. But it’s late tonight.” Aloth pushed back from the table and stood up.

Hazel waved a hand. “You go ahead. I need to finish my drink.”

He looked dubiously at her tankard as if calculating how long she’d been drinking it. “This has nothing to do with not wanting to sleep, does it?”

She raised her pint. “You’re not the only one who can deflect personal questions.”

Aloth laughed, for real this time. “Point made. I’ll see you in the morning.” He collected the papers from the table.

“G’night.” Hazel took another small sip as Aloth climbed the stairs. She was just wound up from everything that happened today. It was a lot to process. Humming to herself, she curled her legs up under herself on the large chair. It had been a long day and it was shaping up to be a long night.

 

Heather yawned and rolled over in bed, burrowing into the comforter. It was poofier than she remembered. She groggily opened her eyes as she tried to place her surroundings in the dark. Right. They were at that tavern. In Brackenbury. Which meant there should be a Hazel. Heather flailed an arm, patting at the other half of the bed. There was not. Should she be concerned? Probably. Fuck it.

Yawning, she lugged herself out of bed. The wooden floor was cold on her bare feet and Heather drew her arms around herself. She stumbled into slipping on her boots without bothering to do up the laces, then headed out into the hall and peered down the stairs.

Hazel still sat at a table in the middle of the room, feet drawn up underneath her, staring at a tankard of beer. Heather was struck by how small Hazel seemed, curled up at a table and chair sized for folk. Loose tendrils of russet hair hung limp, escaping from her messy bun to frame her gaunt face. She seemed thinner. She seemed tenuous. She seemed like she was only wanting a good gust of wind to bend her like a sapling. Bend, but not break. She was Hazel. She couldn’t break.

Heather paused at the top of the stairway, assessing her sister. She’d been trying not to see it. The curl in her shoulders. The droop in her ears. The dark circles beneath her eyes. No, she couldn’t break, she wouldn’t break. What Heather was afraid of was that Hazel would wane until she was diaphanous. Until she blew away like ash on a warm breeze. Like Mom.

That was worse, probably, then how she’d always expected Hazel to die. Run through by brigands. Tossed off a pirate ship. Something dramatic. Something with flair. It had been twelve years of living her sword–or axe, or hatchet, or whatever she was using these days–and her luck couldn’t last forever. Heather supposed it hadn’t. Just, why did it have to be like this?

When there are no good answers, that means you’re asking the wrong questions, Heather thought vehemently. But she hadn’t gotten up in the middle of the night to dwell.

Heather clomped down the stairs to make her presence known and folded her arms across her chest. “Hazel Esther Bramble, what are you still doing up at this hour?”

Hazel started, ears falling back as she looked up at Heather. Sighing, she slumped back down. “I need to finish my drink.”

“Is that the same drink you were drinking, what, five hours ago?”

Hazel took a small sip. “...maybe.”

“You know, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to drink it.”

“I like it fine.”

“Then drink it.” Heather stared Hazel down.

Staring defiantly back, Hazel picked up the tankard and downed the rest in one go, slamming the tankard back onto the table.

“There was that so hard? Now come up to bed; it’s fucking freezing out here.”

 

Heather gratefully scurried back under the warm covers as Hazel worked off her boots. “So… you’re not doing great.”

Hazel snorted. Her left boot dropped to the ground. “Thanks.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“No, it’s the truth.” Hazel climbed into bed, stretching out on her stomach.

“Have you told Aspen?”

Hazel spoke into her pillow, her voice muffled. “Don’t talk to me about men.”

Something had happened there, but Heather didn’t know what. But now was not the time to pry, so go for deflection.“Hey, men are good for some things.”

Hazel snorted into her pillow.

“What about that guy at Dunryd Row, Kurren? He was cute.”

“Are you actually trying to set me up with someone right now?”

“It might help you sleep better–”

Hazel slammed Heather with her pillow. 

Heather pushed Hazel back, sticking out her tongue. “How old are we, anyway?”

“Old enough for you to give me crap about sex.” Hazel hugged her pillow to her chest, curled up on her side. “I missed you.”

Were they really going to get into this. “I… missed you, too.”

“Heather, if something happens to me–”

“You’re going to be fine. We’re going to get you fixed.”

“–if I don’t recover from this, promise me you won’t run off again.”

Heather twisted the edge of the sheet in her fingers, watching it curl around. “I can’t promise that.”

“I don’t want this family to fall apart.”

“We’re all adults, Haze. We’re supposed to go off and do our own things.”

“It’s just, you and Hollis–”

“You can’t fix everything, Hazel. You can’t fix everyone.” Heather flopped on her back, staring at the ceiling in the darkness. “That’s my problem.” It was too late to be self reflective.

They lay in silence. A soft rain pattered against the window.

“I’m sorry,” Hazel said softly. “I don’t want to fight. I–”

Heather rubbed her fingers against her temple. “Gods, it’s not your fault, Hazel. None of this is your fault.” She let out a long sigh. “We should try to get some sleep.”

“Right.” Hazel fluffed her pillow and returned it to the head of the bed. “If… if I start thrashing during the night, can you try to wake me up?”

For a second, Heather stopped breathing. “Is that a problem?”

“Sometimes…” Hazel drew out the word. “Edér’s had to… hold me down before.”

Maybe she hadn’t give big, dumb, and blond enough credit. And if that’s why Hazel was afraid of going to sleep… “Hey, getting some sleep is going to be better than getting none.” Less serious subject. Less serious subject. “I don’t know what the plan for tomorrow is, but I’d like to stop by the Hall of the Unseen. It’s the biggest book collection around. They might have something on your… condition.” Not a less serious subject.

Hazel sighed. “Good an idea as any.” She reached out and squeezed Heather’s hand. “I love you.”

“Love you, too. Now close your eyes and shut up.”

She couldn’t break.


End file.
